Seeking justice: Farmer accuses landlord of burning down his house

Sharecropper from Sanghar appeals to authorities for help, protection

KARACHI: Early in the morning on January 26, 2014, 45 armed men evicted Leghari and his family from their house. They then set ablaze the huts of about 22 members of the family. "They burnt down my house and terrorised my family by firing at us," said Ghulam Ali Leghari, a farmer from Sinjhoro taluka in Sanghar. "What was our fault?"

Speaking at a press conference at Karachi Press Club on Thursday, organised with the help of Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research and Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum, Leghari appealed to the authorities for justice.

He explained that he became a sharecropper for landlord Leemo Junejo 32 years ago but Leemo's son Mumtaz Junejo, who now owns the land, refused to pay Leghari his due share. According to the farmer, Mumtaz would pay him a share from the wheat crop but kept all the profits from cotton, sugarcane and vegetable crops. He added that instead of paying him, the landlord accused him of robbery and asked him to leave.

Leghari said that he took his case to the Tenancy Tribunal, which ordered Mumtaz to pay him Rs2.7 million as his outstanding share. He alleged that the landlord refused to let him cultivate the land and threatened him, upon which he filed a petition with the additional deputy commissioner to implement the verdict and also tried to register an FIR and sought protection from the police. The FIR was later registered on the directive of the Sanghar district and sessions judge.

According to Leghari, however, the FIR has made no difference. The villagers are still forcefully evicted from their houses and deprived of their rights by landlords who are reluctant to pay them. He claimed that even the relatives of the displaced families were threatened for giving them shelter.

"I appeal to the provincial chief minister and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) co-chairperson Asif Ali Zardari to take action," pleaded Leghari. "I am a PPP worker and the landlord too belongs to the party. I tried to meet party leaders to ask for their help but nobody listened."

He also asked for his house and belongings to be returned to him, his due share and the arrest of the men who attacked his house under Mumtaz's orders.

PPP Sanghar district president Sarfaraz Rajar told The Express Tribune that he had taken note of the situation. "I have talked to the deputy commissioner and we will take action against this. We will help him in every possible way."

Published in The Express Tribune, February 7^th, 2015.