1.7 million bonded peasants in Pakistan

[Naveed Yaseen]

By Urooj Zia
KARACHI: The agriculture industry rests primarily on the shoulders of around 1.7 million bonded and landless peasants, an overwhelming majority of whom are in Tharparkar, former bonded peasants told The News.

Veerchi Kohli, Bhailaj Kohli and Bheru Bheel are among the hundreds of Haaris (landless peasants) who are part of the 12-day-long Sindhi peasants’ long march for land reforms. All three of them, currently in their 20s, are former bonded labourers from Nagar Parkar in Tharparkar, Sindh.

All three of the former peasants who spoke to The News spoke now work with Mehrgarh, an NGO run by Dr Fowzia Saeed. The latter is the author of Taboo, the first sociological study of Shahi Mohalla, Lahore’s biggest and most famous red-light district. “Kohlis and Bheels are the real heirs of Sindh. They lived here even before the Aryans and the Darawars,” Veerchi, Bhailaj and Bheru said.

“Today, however, they live like gypsies. According to the World Bank report, around 1.7 million people in Pakistan are currently bonded to cruel feudal lords and agricultural land owners. An overwhelming majority of them are Bheels and Kohlis from Tharparkar.”

The system of bonded labour in the country works primarily on the basis of debt bondage. A member of a family obtains a loan, generally amounting to anywhere between Rs20,000 and Rs80,000, from a landlord. The entire family, and at times the tribe, is then bonded or enslaved to the loan-giver until the money is repaid. This arrangement, however, is problematic for numerous reasons. Firstly, the financial records, which are in the hands of the loan-giver and his record-keeper, are often meddled with. As a result, generations are unable to repay the loan. Secondly, for the duration that the loan is not repaid, the enslaved labourers live under terrible conditions and are generally subjected to various forms of ill-treatment and even torture, the participants of the peasants’ long march said.

“We are participating in this march because we also belong to the Kohli clan. In today’s advanced world, the people of our tribe don’t even have the right to live freely,” they said.

“Amendments in the Sindh Land and Tenancy Act would benefit the Bheels and the Kohlis the most. All we are asking the government is to pass these amendments in the Sindh Assembly. Getting them implemented is our responsibility. These amendments will at least ensure a dignified existence for our people, something that is currently being denied to them.”

http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=164546