Demonstration on land rights

In our development area especially and in the whole country generally women are the main producer of food and cash crops but are denied to give land proprietary rights. Including the cruelness of this situation a lot of peasant women are land less and have to work as bonded labor. In order to make some strategy for the struggle of land rights, on 17^th of December 2009, a great Sath and demonstration was organized at Hirrak Development Center with the assistance of Action Aid Pakistan. The main objective of this demonstration was to demand for the land allotment to landless peasant women.

The demonstration was started on 11 am in which more than 700 women of the development related to Traimet Sanjh, participated. In the beginning of the demonstration, Zafar Khan, coordinator of the organization, briefed about the historical background of the proprietary of farming lands in our area so that the women can come to know the past and present situation of land allotment. He told,” lands in our area lands are allotted only civil and military officials in state interest not in peasants’ interest. The local land mafia is also very active in illegal possession of cultivating lands near the River Indus and grazing lands in Thall with the support of local land lords and corrupt land revenue department. This land mafia is exploiting the poor and marginalized peasants especially women in our development area.”

The participants from Traimet Sanjh and community shared their experiences that how did they struggle for their rights and dispossessed the illegal land allotment. They told that they strengthened them and unite themselves to get the rights. The members of Traimet Sanjh discussed their issues, problems and achievements. The focal person of women rights said that they started this movement with the collaboration of Action Aid Pakistan in 2008 and continued to strengthen it through seminars, press conferences, demonstrations and village meetings. All the participants demanded their right to land and made further strategies like protests, demonstrations, press conferences and campaign through media.

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