Colonial-era legislation, contradictory to the Constitution of Pakistan and international law, has been used by Ravi Urban Development Authority (RUDA) to evict farmers from their agricultural land, claims a report by non-governmental organisation (NGO) Human Rights Watch (HRW).
The recently-released report was prepared after HRW spoke to 14 farmers evicted or threatened with eviction in Lahore since August 2020, as well as lawyers, environmental rights activists and journalists between February 1st and March 1st of this year.
“Pakistani authorities urgently need to reform colonial-era land legislation to ensure that its laws are equitable, transparent and in line with Pakistan’s international obligations,” said HRW Associate Asia Director Patricia Gossman. “The government has an obligation to compensate the loss of land and provide for the resettlement or rehabilitation of those displaced.”
The report added that the government evoked the colonial-era Land Acquisition Act 1894 to acquire land for ‘public purposes’. Under the Act, Pakistani authorities are empowered to acquire land not only for government projects, but also for other entities, including public-private partnerships and private companies. “The law gives the government almost exclusive power to decide what falls within that scope and to displace people to achieve those aims”, the report added.
Once the government determines that land is required for public purposes, the landowner has no choice but to transfer ownership of the land.
The report noted that the Act contravenes The Constitution of Pakistan. Article 23 states that every citizen shall have the right to acquire, hold and dispose of property in any part of Pakistan, subject to the Constitution and any reasonable restrictions imposed by law in the public interest. The Constitution further states that no person shall be compulsorily deprived of their property, save in accordance with the law.
Despite these constitutional protections, the Land Acquisition Act itself does not provide a criterion for determining market-based compensation and serious concerns remain regarding the adequacy of the compensation paid, the report stated.
In March 2022, Pakistan’s Supreme Court said that the law of acquisition is confiscatory in nature and easily deprives an individual of their property and all rights attached to it. The report claimed that there appears to be no effort on the part of the acquiring department to fairly determine compensation.
The Land Acquisition Act’s provisions, particularly permitting forced evictions and the absence of a framework for a remedy, violate fundamental human rights under international law, the report added.
The former United Nations Commission on Human Rights defined forced evictions as “the permanent or temporary removal against their will of individuals, families and/or communities from the homes and/or land which they occupy, without the provision of, or access to, appropriate forms of legal or other protection.”
The commission affirmed that forced evictions constitute a “gross violation of human rights”, the report added.
Governments are obligated by international law to provide everyone with a reasonable degree of tenure security that guarantees legal protection against forced evictions, particularly by not evicting occupants from the land on which they depend for their livelihoods, the report said.
Tahir, a vegetable farmer facing possible eviction due to the RUDA project, expressed his concerns to HRW not only for the area’s farmers, but for citizens around Lahore.
This area is Lahore’s food basket and provides for vegetables and other crops for the entire Lahore region, he said. ‘Now all of us will be evicted and there nowhere else around Lahore where we can resume farming, as there is not enough fertile land available and compensation is measly.’
Published in The Express Tribune, April 14th, 2023.
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