Daily Times

The Government of Sindh has set in motion a process of unconstitutional allotment of Sindh’s agricultural lands to a federal institution for corporate farming. This has created a new controversy in the federation, which is already confronted with deepening political and economic crises. The logic behind such a divisive decision at a time when the country is already gearing up to hold the most controversial elections is unfathomable. Do we have a national penchant for controversies? Recently, the interim government of Sindh accorded approval to the leasing of 52700 acres of cultivable land for corporate farming in different districts of Sindh to a federal institution. As reported by the national press, the institution had solicited leases of agricultural land in the other provinces of the country as well. However, the interim governments of Punjab and KPK have not yet approved the lease of their land. The haste displayed by the Sindh provincial administration is perplexing. Was there more pressure on the Government of Sindh than the other two provincial administrations?

Corporate farming on huge tracts of land will claim a big share of the meagre irrigation water resources of Sindh too. The province has chronically faced an acute shortage of irrigation waters for the “Rabi” season. The apportioning of water resources between the existing cultivable lands and the new corporate farming sector will certainly aggravate the shortage of irrigation waters for no new irrigation water resources could be created without inflicting a devastating blow to the existing network of canals and water courses in the province.

It is argued that the water flowing into the sea downstream of Kotri Barrage would be desalinated for use as irrigation water in corporate farming. All over the world, water experts agree that a certain amount of sweet water should flow into the sea to preserve the ecosystem, mangrove forests, animal life and delta from extinction. Sindh has one of the biggest deltas in the world with mangrove forests with rare breeds of fish and other sea animals.

Federal states, all over the world, try to protect the rights and assets of their small units from the trespass of any federal institution.

The water experts, in a conference held in 2015 in Karachi, were of the unanimous view that at least 17 million acre-feet (MAF) should flow into the sea downstream of Kotri Barrage to save the adjoining districts of Tatha and Sijawal from the sea intrusion. The Water Accords of 1991 identified this quantity of fresh water as 10 MAF. Presently, barring floods, not even half of this quantity of river water flows into the sea with the consequence that the sea has eaten away 2.3 million acres of coastal land in the above districts. The people from the Sijawal district were forced to migrate to other parts of Sindh. A UN report of 2016 declared the encroachment of the sea on cultivable land as the main cause of the abject poverty and unemployment in the once prosperous coastal regions of Sindh.

The people of Sindh, for millennia, have been dependent on the lands of the Indus Valley and the waters of the Indus River. The interior regions of the province were neglected in the industrial development, and the province is being deprived of its genuine share of the natural resources of gas and oil, minerals and coal extracted from it deepening the dependence of its people on agriculture. This has aggravated overall poverty and unemployment in the province fueling a profound sense of deprivation in its population.

The Interim Chief Minister is a former Justice of the Supreme Court of Pakistan and well versed with his powers, and constitutional commandments on the ownership of lands. The Constitution of Pakistan declares agriculture and cultivable lands as provincial subjects and preserves the right of the people of a province to be the ultimate owners of the urban and rural lands falling within the geographical boundaries of their province. The allotment of the lands to a foreigner or a federal institution is subject to the approval of the majority of the Legislative Assembly of the concerned province for purposes specified in the Constitution. One wonders what compelled the Chief Minister, being a former Justice to ignore the constitutional provisions in this sensitive matter.

The people of Sindh, given the level of poverty and the shrinking resources for livelihood particularly in rural districts, cannot afford further deprivation and loss of their assets. The 52,700 acres of state land can provide sustenance to thousands of landless peasant families if they are allotted small pieces of ten acres per family with resources to cultivate. The concerned institution is seeking allotment of this huge tract of cultivable land for corporate farming after it has already appropriated vast spaces of urban and rural lands of Sindh for Cantonments and housing schemes. The sprawling urban housing schemes in Karachi and along the super highway bear testimony to this bitter fact.

Over the years, the weak political administrations of Sindh have shown the least will to resist the appropriation of lands for the ever-expanding housing schemes on the urban lands of Sindh by this institution. Given the experience, it is apprehended that the current interim or the coming elected government of Sindh would not withstand pressure for the appropriation of this huge tract of cultivable land as well. The forcible takeover of the lands of Sindh will further deepen the sense of deprivation among the people of Sindh; lower the esteem of this great institution in the second-largest federal unit and strengthen centrifugal forces to the peril of the federation.

Federal states, all over the world, try to protect the rights and assets of their small units from the trespass of any federal institution. Pakistan should be no exception to this universal rule in the 21st century. The mere announcement of the leasing of lands has fuelled anger and anguish, and an acute sense of insecurity in the province compelling social and political groups to form a united front to resist this move. As this movement of resistance gathers momentum, the main political parties will also jump on the bandwagon.

The author was a member of the Foreign Service of Pakistan and he has authored two books.