MQM submits land reforms bill in National Assembly

ISLAMABAD: The Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) on Tuesday submitted the Redistributive Land Reforms Bill 2010 in the National Assembly Secretariat to provide measures for the eradication of hereditary skewed ownership of agricultural land and its redistribution amongst the toiling tillers of the country sans the Federally Administered Tribal Areas.

The bill is aimed at ending feudalism in Pakistan, and was tabled by MQM deputy convenor, Dr Farooq Sattar, and other MQM national assembly members and senators.Speaking at a press conference, Dr Sattar said that the MQM had named the bill after Dr Imran Farooq to honour the services rendered by him.

The bill proposed that from the commencement of the act, all land within the territorial limits of provinces, owned, leased, occupied, tenanted, encumbered, mortgaged with or without possession by any person would be resumed in the name of the provincial government. However, it said that the land that falls within the limits of “economic holding” and the land held by registered charitable trusts and waqf would be exempted from resumption.

On resumption of the land, the owner would be paid compensation at the rates per acre as may be determined by the commission, the bill added.

It also mentioned that under the proposed redistribution of land, each landless family of the cultivator or tenant or small landowner would be granted land out of that resumed, giving priority to the landless family of the cultivator followed by a landless tenant’s family and small landowner’s family. The land would not be granted to a family that exceeded the size and area of “economic holding”.

Families granted or have retained land might form cooperative farming societies. However, the cooperative farming society might be formed by a maximum of three families. The proposed bill said that land is a free bounty of nature and the state had been recognised as its owner, both by Muslim and Hindu jurists.

The proposed bill said that replacement of the ancient customary law of temporary or lifetime occupancy, by hereditary ownership with the introduction of zamindari, ryotwari and jagirdari system by the British colonial government created a perpetuating socio-political disequilibria in society.

It said the three land reforms introduced in 1959, 1972 and 1977 had failed to reduce the size of large estates and did not benefit more than eight percent of haris and muzaareen.

The bill said that colonisation through barrages by grant of most fertile and large tracts of land to influential absentee zamindars and jagirdars at throwaway prices created a new class of overlords, which earned windfall profits through the hard work and labour of the haris and muzaareen.

Meanwhile, MQM’s Dr Farooq Sattar said that 180 million poor people of the country could not get their rights as long as the feudal system continued.