The New Land Mafia

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has recently released its report on Pakistan. It is a harrowing litany of abuses and brutalization of the landless tenants of the sprawling Military Farms by Pakistan Rangers. The report alleges that the paramilitary forces are killing and torturing agitating farmers and their children with impunity. In its 54-page report titled, "Soiled Hands: The Pakistan Army’s Repression of the Punjab Farmers Movement," HRW documents the brutal repression of a farmers movement in the central Punjab district of Okara; incidentally, the province that sends the largest number of recruits to Pakistan’s armed forces.

For the past two years, tens of thousands of tenant farmers in Okara have resisted efforts by the military to weaken their legal rights to some of the most fertile farmland in Pakistan, which many of their families have worked on for generations. The sanguine dispute commenced when the military unilaterally imposed a “cash-rent” system for all classes of tenants occupying the 17,013 acres of land in early 2000.

The HRW report also alleges, that the Pakistan Rangers in a bid to coerce the farmers into signing new tenancy agreements, has set up "torture cells," a term implying areas within detention centers used for interrogation.
According to the testimony of 30 children interviewed by HRW, the Rangers have tortured and beaten innocent farmers’ children to pressure them to sign tenancy agreements, causing schools in the area to close down periodically.
The report is filled with poignant testimonies of victims. They have painted harrowing tales of torture and physical coercion. It details the practice of inhuman and forcible divorces as coercive tools. The report cites the case of a four month married youth Basharat Mehmood, who was kidnapped and taken to the Rangers Headquarters in Okara district. Once there, Mehmood was beaten and whipped until he agreed to sign a document divorcing his wife.

Furthermore, Anjuman Mazarain Punjab (AMP), which represents one million landless, tenants of Okara District, claims that at least 9 tenants have died over the past three years.

Though, the Pakistan army says it owns the land in Okara, most legal experts, tenant farmers and the Punjab provincial government, which has refused to sign the land over to the military, despite repeated requests from the armed forces, dispute the claim.

The HRW report collaborates what has been repeatedly reported in the local press for the last few years ever since the dispute between the tenants and the military started. Instead of resolving the controversy, keeping in view the legal, historical and humane norms, the military has been using high-handed methods of extreme repression and unabated brutality. This is causing a considerable resentment against the institution, which has always been held in reverence by the people of Pakistan. Some locals have described the behaviour of the army akin to that of a foreign occupation force.

The aforegoing brings us to another facet of the role of the army: land acquisition. Land ownership remains one of the chief sources of wealth and social privilege in Pakistan. The Pakistan army is possibly the largest landholder in the country, with the military regularly dispensing land as perks to its officers at a throwaway price. The same land, after it has been developed as part of a residential estate in posh urban localities is sold at an exorbitant price in the market. This has fueled an insatiable desire for wealth among the officers of the armed forces. Officers at all levels are avidly selling and purchasing real estate like so many land brokers. This unseemly practice has diverted their attention, progressively away from professional matters.
Army’s hold on the country’s economic resources does not stop at real-state ownership. The army is the owner of the largest industrial-business conglomerate in the country. With retired generals at the helm, these businesses are not being run on sound economic principles or good business practices. Apart from this, the army is into banking, insurance and leasing too. It owns petrol stations, bakeries and shopping malls throughout the country. Such humongous business empire is reminiscent of the industrial agglomerates of the Indonesian army and the Chinese People’s Liberation Army. Both the Indonesian and the Chinese armies were steeped in corruption.

The discerning among the people are increasingly realizing, that a major reason for lack of development of the society and the polity, is due to a major chunk of the state resources being appropriated by the armed forces. And another major factor is the military’s increasing grip on the national politics.

The army’s recent professional performance in Wana, especially during the April expedition leaves much to be desired.

It is time enough for the military bosses to assess the situation and take remedial measures, to arrest the deterioration of an institution, which has garnered extreme reverence from the masses in the past. That pristine reverence has to be restored. It could only be restored if the military takes a thorough re-evaluation of its role, improve both its professional prowess and image. It should eschew practices bring ignominy to it. It should stop acting like a real estate-cum- business conglomeration and revert to its original role of the sentinel of the nation.