Daily Times

The Land Acquisition Act, 1894 established during the British colonial era in sub-continent, is abided by India, Myanmar, and Pakistan, till to date. Unlike Pakistan, India and Myanmar keep on modifying the law considering the lacunas of 1894’s law concerning human/environmental rights. So India’s amended title is “The Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013″which reflects the very core objective and undertaking of the law.

In India, the law was amended after thorough discussions in the Lok Sabha vis-à-vis; title that only speaks of land acquisition and not the latter part; the clause of forced acquisition leaving landowners at complete disadvantage; absolute absence of grievance redress mechanism of direct and indirect affectees; no mention of resettlement and rehabilitation of displaced persons significantly affecting women, children, disabled, impoverished, title and non-title holders; the urgency clause which is ambiguous regarding disclosure of the purpose of land acquisition and requires sudden dispossession of the lands/resources depriving affectees of any legal support; the clause of low rate compensation enforcing exchange of urban and rural land on cheaper rates; and numerous other amendments regarding tribal communities, culture/traditions, minorities, livelihoods, agricultural land, prescribed time, redressing socioeconomic impact etc.

In order to mitigate land acquisition associated impacts/grievances and to ensure transparency, similar transformations/amendments are required in the Land Acquisition Act of Pakistan, with immediate effect. Especially, backing the guidelines of international donors such as theWorld Bank (WB) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) regarding compensation and resettlements would aid in fulfilling international requirements. Since most of the mega projects are foreign-funded and require constant monitoring and evaluations, thus, failing to satisfy any established measures would eventually result in disruption in funding which cause unnecessary delay, triggering multifaceted hitches in project completion and increase in the approved cost of the project.

Although foreign-funded projects such as that of NHA, WAPDA etc., get generous compensation for resettlement and rehabilitation, however, with LAA, 1894 in order those of government-sponsored projects leave affectees as non-beneficiaries of development and deprived them of compensation making the project a living example of their dispossessions, exploitation, and injustice. The vagueness and lacunas in the existing law put fewer at advantage at the expense of majority (weaker/impoverished) and if in certain cases prosecuted for embezzlement, with the current state of law, they easily get away with the impunity.

The grievances related to involuntary displacement and compensation in projects like the Mangla Dam, Neelum Jhelum Hydro-Electric Project, Tarbela Dam, Karachi Circular Railway and Orange Line Train are being piled up and most of the credit goes to the state’s primitive Land Acquisition Act. Since independence, like many archeological sites, Pakistan has reverentially maintained the British Land Acquisition Act (LAA), 1894. Besides numerous legal developments in human and environmental laws/rights worldwide, Pakistan has still embraced such a vague law without much amendment. Amendments, particularly, related to resettlement and rehabilitation of the direct and indirect affectees having tangible and intangible socioeconomic means at stake

The Land Acquisition Act is the core element from trivial to mega infrastructural development throughout the world. Developments that includes the constructions of; roads, buildings, dams, energy/power stations, transportation, communication, housing societies etc., that mostly implicate the involuntary human displacement, demolition of historical places, compromise of heritage/culture, the sacrifice of religious places and nonetheless annihilation of natural resources. And,according to international customs and practices,all of these domains which are directly or indirectly affected by development purposes are entitled to prodigious legal support. On the contrary, in Pakistan, the grievances related to involuntary displacement and compensation in projects like the Mangla Dam,Neelum Jhelum Hydro-Electric Project, Tarbela Dam, Karachi Circular Railway and Orange Line Train are being piled up and most of the credit goes to the state’s primitive Land Acquisition Act. There are numerous minor to mega projects where agreed upon and decided compensation is a matter of great controversy. The  Bahria Town’s recent illegal land possession is one of the examples of malpractices due to loopholes in the transparency of the legal system.

There are several stakeholders involved in developmental projects especially ones at the national level. Some of the legalities are compromised at the part of the government, due to weak law, and sometimes complications occur because of the landowners-when they become greedy and try to demand more compensation than agreed upon by threatening the delay in the development of the project.

The international standards and practices set by the WB and the ADB demand systematic census and inventory-based research prior to invitation of any project in the form of Land Acquisition and Resettlement Plan (LARP)/Resettlement Action Plan (RAP). These plans require the formation of Grievance Redress Committee that would vigilantly address any kind of human or environmental violations, from the very beginning till the very end of the project. And this prior study also provides transparency of the involved stakeholders and assists any future accountability. International donors provide considerable compensation for both tangible and intangible assets affected by development and ensures resettlement. Therefore, with the absence of such scheduled practices in Pakistan people fall prey of violations of basic rights. Thus, amending the law in the light of human and environmental rights would address much distress and resulting violence, especially the incorporation of resettlement and rehabilitation clauses would aid in bringing justice, trust in the system and sustainability in developments. For damage control in railways, housing societies, WAPDA etc. Land Acquisition Act, 1894, should be amended with the utmost priority by the government of Pakistan.

Published in Daily Times, January 26^th 2019.