KARACHI:  Sindh is a province where injustice against peasants has prevailed for centuries and peasants in 2016 were grieving over the plight of their existing justice system, which is very unfair and ineffective, and in the modern era, peasants were still witnessing a state of exploitative and slavery type relationship with landlords, said speakers at the launching ceremony of the State of Peasants’ Rights in Sindh 2016.

The Press conference was addressed by Karamat Ali, Executive Director, Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research (PILER), Habibuddin Junaidi, Convener, Sindh Labour Solidarity Committee, Akram Khaskheli of Hari Welfare Association, Iqbal Detho, Human Rights activist, Nazra Jahan (Foundation for Research and Human Development) and Zulfiqar Shah, Executive Director, PILER at the Karachi Press Club here on Saturday.

The speakers showed concerns that the federal government had introduced the anti-peasants’ Seed (Amendment) Act 2016 and also took away the right of provinces to govern and regulate matters related to the agriculture sector. They said that in Sindh, with the introduction of the Seed (Amendment) Act, the Sindh Seed Corporation (SSC) has lost its importance and powers to process, procure and distribute standard seeds. The SSC could potentially protect the rights of peasants and small-scale landholders; however, at the same time, it is not known whether or not the SSC has ever played its due role in protecting the rights of peasants because it was also a victim of feudal and landlords mafia.

The Executive Director of HWA said that in 2016, the Sindh Tenancy Act (STA) 1950 was not amended to address big lacunas and problems, which were a cause of injustice for peasants in their relationship with landlords. He lamented that Sindh’s political, social and administrative structure was controlled by feudal and landlord families; thus, pro-peasant amendments in the laws were not possible.

The Provincial Assembly of Sindh (PAS) and also Sindh’s seats in the National Assembly of Pakistan were crowded with feudal landlords. He added that, however, political projects (for instance, Landless Harees Project) were initiated to increase or retain the vote bank; in which extremely little land was given to peasants. The Government of Sindh (GoS) did not give more lands to peasants in 2016 even to their own voters.

The speakers said that although the Sindh Industrial Relations Act (SIRA) – a vague law – strangely recognises peasants and fishermen as industrial workers, in 2016, peasants and fishermen were not registered or their organisations were not registered under the SIRA. In April 2015, the PAS passed the Sindh Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Bill; which, in 2016, after the assent of the Governor of Sindh, became the Sindh Bonded Labour System Abolition Act (SBLSAA) 2016. The new law is an exact copy of the BLSAA 1992. The issue of bonded labourers remained unaddressed because the Act of 1992 was never implemented. The district vigilance committees were never formed and culprits were never arrested and sentenced under the Act. The GoS had merely fulfilled the formality to make the Act of 1992 a provincial subject.

The majority of people living in rural areas depend on agriculture, livestock, and fishing as their prime source of income and livelihoods. Although there were no estimates for 2016, in 2012, it was estimated that 13.46 million people were employed in Sindh, including 7.74 million in rural areas; the majority of whom were working as sharecroppers (tenants or peasants; however, most of them were landless), and wage workers on agriculture farms. In 2000, there were an estimated 1.8 million bonded peasants (sharecroppers) in Sindh, and 6.8 million tenants were performing caste based labour without pay. The leaders of Nationalist political parties who claim to be the champions of peasants’ rights had also given land to peasants but without a formal agreement under the STA.

In 2013, in Sindh, 40 percent or 26,002 out of the total of 53,728 people in inland fishing were doing part time fishing.  Over the 13 years from 2001 to 2013, the number of full-time fishermen had decreased from 29,732 to 27,726, whereas the number of part-time fishermen had increased from 19,614 to 26,002. The only statistics available for 2012-2013 by the Sindh Bureau of Statistics show that, in Sindh, in inland fisheries, 74,000 metric tonnes of fish were produced, which is 28.24 percent of the total (21,4500 metric tonnes) fish produced in Pakistan.

In 2016, a total of 257 bonded labourers, including children and women, were released from different districts in Sindh. In addition, 94 bonded labourers were released from Balochistan and Punjab.

The bonded labourers released in Balochistan were basically peasants from different districts of Sindh belonging to the Hindu community doing agricultural activities in the districts of Kech and Turbat. The number of bonded peasants released in recent years 2014 (275 peasants), 2015 (132 peasants) and 2016 (257 peasants) has decreased significantly compared to 2013 when 1,260 bonded peasants were released on the orders of the courts.

This alarming trend requires the urgent attention of civil society organisations, especially the media, which should investigate and discover the underlying reasons. The speakers highlighted that by December 2016, approximately 1,580 families and 8,984 individuals were living in eight ex-bonded peasant camps. Of the total individuals, 4,358 were children below 18 years of age. These camps were without health, education or other basic services and facilities.

The speakers demanded that peasants and organisations working for the rights of peasants in Sindh should connect with growing rights based movements across the globe and struggle for the recognition of peasants in the international human rights system, such as human rights councils and universal periodic report. They also demanded that the GoS should amend the SBLSAA, the STA and the PPC to increase the punishment to at least five years, and make the offence of keeping people in bondage non-bail able and non-compoundable.

They said that the GoS should take measures to implement the SBLSAA and the STA and register peasants or tenants under the STA and ensure that all peasants are provided agreements under the STA. The amendments should be in light of the draft UN declaration on the rights of peasants, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1966), and the Peasants’ Charter (1981). The GoS should take measures to rehabilitate released or escaped bonded peasants and should provide all basic human rights services in peasant (Hari) camps until they are rehabilitated. There should also be skills and training programmes for residents in peasant camps.