Cholistan Development Authority (CDA) Managing Director Javed Akhtar Mehmood told The Express Tribune that Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif had approved a summary for the allotment of Cholistan land to the locals earlier this month.
The approval has come after 35 years of allotments on 3-5 year leases. The peasants said that the lease period was too short.
By the time they managed to improve the land their leases would expire and there was no certainty that they would be able to re-lease the land. They said they had been protesting against the short lease for three decades.
The chief minister had formed a commission headed by Law Minister Rana Sanaullah that suggested the permanent allotment of land for Cholistanis.
This is the first time since 1976 that a government has allowed permanent transfer of land in Cholistan. Mehmood said agriculture and livestock development will be encouraged. He said the move will provide secure livelihoods to about 100,000 people. The allotment would be made on merit to Cholistanis who have ID cards with permanent and current addresses in Cholistan. They will be allotted land through a transparent ballot, he said.
Cholistan is spread over 6.4 million acres. Peasants said lands were allotted during military regimes in 1969, 1978 and 1982. The permanent allotments were stopped after that although many ‘outsiders’ had leased large tracts of farm land.
Former Cholistan union council nazim Ghulam Hassan Daha said, “The local peasants have waited a long time for this.”
Former Derawar Fort union council nazim Rai Muhammad Sharif said Cholistanis had been migrating to urban areas during droughts as fodder for their livestock ran out. They had to sell their cattle because of that but all that would change, he said.
Peasants Muhammad Sharif and Hameedullah Khan said permanent allotment would improve their standards of living and provide them with security. Khan said, “We will be able to provide shelter for our cattle and lands for them to graze on.”
The process for allotment should be fair and only permanent residents should be considered for allotment, said Muhammad Sharif.
The allotment should be through a ballot process and the media and elected representatives of Cholistan should make sure that no political pressure is allowed to corrupt it, he said.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 27th, 2013.