10-km protest march held against corporate farming
The Awami Tehreek (AT) organised a 10-kilometer protest march in Thatta district on Sunday to express opposition to the auction of over a million acres of agricultural land in Sindh.
The participants, led by the party's President Lal Jarwar, deplored that precious land of Sindh will be given for corporate farming under the guise of agriculture revolution which is in essence only possible by distributing land among landless peasants.
AT activists, who claim to be the true followers of late Rasool Bux Palijo rather than his son, Ayaz LAtif Palijo, walked for several kilometers, also demanded removal of encroachment from Keenjhar and Haleji lakes; Kohistan and Bhanbhor; and from the coastal regions.
They kept raising slogans like 'stop land grabbing', 'deny corporate farming', 'stop auction of Keenjhar Lake' and 'stop auction of Karoonjhar Hills'. "The rulers have distorted the secular and democratic Pakistan of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah," said Jarwar while addressing the protesters.
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He said the rulers did not learn any lesson from the 1971 debacle, adding that the local people are being forced out of their abodes because their lands are being occupied in Thatta district.
He blamed the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) for allowing its former provincial government to sell thousands of thousand acres of land in Thatta to international companies. He alleged that tens of thousands of acres of land had been forcefully acquired for mega housing schemes.
He warned that the K-IV project is a death warrant for Keenjhar as the lake's water will be diverted to the housing schemes and the people of Thatta will be deprived of their water share.
"The rulers of Sindh have attacked Sindh's national identity by destroying Sindh's natural lakes and tourist and cultural sites." The AT's Noor Ahmed Katiyar, Hoorunnisa Palijo and other leaders warned that the people of the province will resist the projects which are meant to grab their land.