Speakers at a peasants' conference and a launch ceremony of a report on "State of Peasants Rights in Sindh 2015" demanded to establish Hari Courts in Sindh. On the International Day of Peasants 2016, they also called for amendment to Sindh Tenancy Act, land reforms to give agriculture land to landless peasants and education, health and residential facilities to all peasants.
The Sindh Hari Conference and report launch ceremony was organized by Hari Welfare Association Sindh (HWAS) in collaboration with International labour Organisation (ILO) and Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research (PILER) at Karachi Press Club on Sunday. After the conference, the peasants and representatives of civil society organisations also staged a demonstration in front of the KPC for rights of peasants.
Executive Director of PILER Karamat Ali presided over the conference, whereas the main speakers included senior peasants leader Saleh Bilo, a senior trade union leader and a trainer from Manchester Geoff Brown, President of HWAS Akram Ali Khaskheli, researcher Aijaz Ali Khawaja, Executive Director of The Change Organisation Ishak Soomro, Ashraf Ali from the UN's FAO, Zulfiqar Shah, Joint Director of PILER and Zaheer Ahmed from the ILO.
Speaking on the occasion Karamat Ali said the conditions of peasants had not changed even after the independence.
"If you read the Masood Khaddarposh's note of descent in Hari Report, you can find that the conditions of peasants have not improved," he said adding that inequality and concentration of the landholding, political and social influence of landlords had increased.
He said we could see 80% elected people in the assemblies were the from the same landlords families, who had been elected from Sindh before the partition.
He said the British Empire introduced hereditary property system in India, which was different from the Mughal landholding system that had encouraged property rights of those people who could cultivate the lands. He said the landholding system had to be changed at the time of independence but still remained the same despite having been aggravated.
"Current rulers of Sindh belong to the feudal families hence they don't allow local government system to function because it provides some sort of representation to labour and Haris," he said.
Karamat Ali pointed out that the GSP Plus facility by the European Union provided an opportunity to implement the ILO core labour standards and other international conventions concerning to human rights, environmental protection and good governance.
He said Sindh Industrial Relations Act (SIRA) had not provided any opportunity to agriculture workers because there was no method to register a union in it.
Geoff Brown, a senior trade unions leader and a trainer from Manchester said there was no peasantry in the UK and only corporate farming existed there, but this was an unsustainable method. He stressed on the need to protect the environment and for that all had to support peasants and their struggle anywhere in the world.
Akram Khaskheli, head of Hari Welfare Association said Sindh Tenancy Act was passed in 1950 and now that was needed to be amended to provide relief to the peasants. All the proposed amendments provided by labour organisations hade not incorporated. He urged that measures be taken for proper implementation.
Saleh Biloo, a peasant leader said Sindh Tenancy Act provided some protection to peasants for achieving their rights. He said institutions such as Sindh Seed Corporation, Zarai Tarqiati Bank were established to provide support to the farmers, but they were serving to only landlords.
He said Sugar mills in Sindh were exploiting the growers because they were owned by rulers. He said the food department was infested with corruption. It was not providing Bardana (gunny bags) to the real farmers but providing support to big landlords.
"There are no education, health and residential facilities to the peasants in Sindh," he said adding that forestry was providing employment to over 500,000 workers in Sindh, but almost all forests had been destroyed deliberately which had resulted in loss of revenue to the government and widespread unemployment.
Ishak Soomro, Executive Director of The Change Organisation demanded that land reforms which were introduced by former Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto should be implemented now.
A social science researcher Aijaz Ali Khawaja said agricultural slavery still existed in Sindh's society. In coastal areas, hundreds of thousands of acres had been destroyed due to sea intrusion. "Big landlords encroached upon Katcha area land where they have put barriers on the main flow of river which not only cause floods, but in dry days, it causes sea intrusion," he said.
Ashraf Ali from UN FAO said the mistrust between peasants and landlords needed to be minimised by creating awareness among both peasants and landlords.
Zaheer Ahmed from ILO said that ILO had introduced alternative livelihood training programme in Sindh especially for those farmers who were affected by floods or drought.
Zulfiqar Shah, Joint Director of PILER appreciated the efforts of Hari Welfare Association for preparing the "State of Peasants Rights in Sindh 2015."
"The official figure also indicates that there is an extreme poverty in Sindh. Over 70 percent of population in Sindh is living below poverty line. Majority of the poor in Sindh are peasants who are facing marginalization as majority of population is not part of political decision-making process," he said adding that another major reason of deprivation was corruption as the worst affected sections of the society were peasants who didn't receive education, healthcare facilities and other basic rights. Majority of patients of Hepatitis in Sindh were Haris, he said.