Pakistan #LandBack

In Pakistan, particularly around Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi, tribal leaders and ‘land mafia’ are acquiring huge amounts of land from the indigenous population both legally and illegally, and are then exploiting this land for farming, development, or illegal hunting and mineral extraction. This causes extensive environmental damage and destroys the livelihood of indigenous inhabitants. Activists who try to resist the land-grabbing have been arrested (even when they were acting legally and the land grabbers were not) due to corruption in the local police and even in the government. Several activists have been killed and their murderers have not been arrested.

Important Facts

Bahria Town was convicted by the Supreme Court in May 2019 for illegally acquiring and developing over 23,300 acres in the Malir district.

Sand mining, carried out in the ‘Kochistan’ area, is illegal according to the Sindh (Prohibition of Taking Minerals Including Reti (Sand) and Bajri From Any Land) Act 2003.

In January 2011, 40 land mafia members attacked Kaka pir village and were reported to the police, but the police instead arrested 18-20 villagers who resisted the attack. The land mafia later killed two villagers.

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In Kaka pir village, a local land mafia supported by the government party known as the Pakistan Peoples’ Party have been occupying land belonging to the local fisher folk since the 1990s, threatening their food security by destroying the water and forest ecosystems on which they depend. The land grabbing has serious environmental impacts as it led to the water being polluted by garbage and the mangrove forests being cut down. This also caused food insecurity and water scarcity for the villagers – worsened by the land mafia cutting off access to drinking water so that the villagers were required to purchase water tanks from the city.

On January 6th, 2011, the land mafia launched a raid on the Pakistan Fisher Folk Forum in the village, which was a center for activism against their land grabbing. Police refused to acknowledge this attack or the subsequent threats, and instead attempted to arrest village activists. On May 5th they attacked again and killed two activists in the raid – Haji Abu (President of the Forum) and Abdul Ganai (General Secretary of the Forum).

The Pakistan Fisher Folk Forum and Asian Human Rights Commission are campaigning against the land mafia and seeking justice for the murdered activists.

In 2018, village landowners in the Malir district near Karachi were intimidated by a group known as Bahria Town (aided by the corrupt police) into ‘selling’ their land at extremely low prices. This land was then used for ecosystem-destroying activities such as construction and illegal sand-mining which threaten Kirthar National Park. In May 2019 the Supreme Court convicted Bahria Town for illegally acquiring land and barred them from further acquisition – but despite this, they continued.

Meanwhile, a separate wave of land grabbing was occurring in the area known as ‘Kochistan’ (which includes part of the Malir district). This land grabbing was mainly for the purpose of building housing societies and industrial developments, as well as illegal sand-mining and hunting. It was run by Malik Asad, feudal leader of the Burfat tribe and ‘King of Kochistan’. Like that of Bahria Town, this land grabbing was supported by the corrupt police, who have a close relationship with Malik Asad. They arrested farmers that refuse to give up their land on false charges of theft, drug possession, and weapon transportation.

The land grabbing of Bahria Town and Malik Asad have been in conflict since 2017, leading several of their activities (such as sand-mining sites) to be shut down. However, this has not been enough to prevent either group from continuing to exploit the environment and indigenous villagers, who suffer while the powerful land-grabbers bicker.

On the outskirts of Karachi, a small plot of land bought at auction by a family was grabbed by a local politician, who placed a wall and security around the plot and refused to allow the family access. The authorities (who had previously failed to provide infrastructure for the plot despite the family paying fees) refused to get involved. Eventually, due to the efforts of Transparency International, the family reclaimed their land.

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