PAKISTAN: Peasant activist targeted for exposing human rights violations of feudalism

Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission has been informed that a peasant activist, who lives in Sindh Province, has received no protection or help from police despite being subjected to torture, countless threats, abduction and currently dispossession from his land by influential landowners; due to his human rights work in assisting those who remain as bonded labourers under powerful landlords.

CASE DETAILS:

Din Mohammad Kumbhar has worked for many years in trying to provide bonded labourers with equal rights despite continuous intimidation. Kumbhar is a resident of Village Fakir Din Mohammad in the province of Sindh. He has been central in the Hari movement that has sought to break the eternal servitude of the peasant to the feudal lords.

In 2008, armed persons surrounded Kumbhar’s village and fired indiscriminately. According to sources, henchmen of the following landowners all of which are politically affiliated with the Pakistan Peoples’ Party were responsible for the shooting: Mr. Shamasddin Hingorjo, Mr. Omar Gull Hingorjo, Mr. Suhrab Khan Mari and Mr. Ali Hassan. After Kumbhar went to Khipro police station to demand he be protected the police took no action to investigate the incident.

In June 2009, following Kumbhar’s complaint to the police he was abducted by men working for the above mentioned landlords and forced by gunpoint to give up the rights to his property. The forged documents in which he was made to sign stipulated that he must vacate his 4.5 acre land by October 20 2009 as well as the villagers living there. He repeatedly went to Khipro police station, but was told nothing could be done to help him.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION:

Throughout Kumbhar’s work as an activist on behalf of fighting for peasant rights, landowners with the assistance of police have threatened and used violence to silence him.

In Sindh, the existence of bonded labour is prominent.  This province has the highest rate of landlessness in Pakistan and more than 40 percent of the land in Sindh is tenanted out by big landlords. Most of the feudal landlords belong to the elite class of political coalitions or are from influential tribes. They are directly or indirectly supported by the influential feudal class of Pakistan. They also hold support from the police and local administrations by bribing them. Under this system people are in servitude to the feudal lord, never making enough money to survive and perpetually indebted. Bonded labour has enabled social disparities to exist from one generation to the next.

The government of Pakistan must recognize its obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). Article 8 of the ICCPR states: 1. No one shall be held in slavery; slavery and the slave-trade in all their forms shall be prohibited. 2. No one shall be held in servitude. 3. (a) No one shall be required to perform forced or compulsory labour’.

The Bonded Labour System Abolition Act of 1992 which prosecutes those responsible for keeping people in bondage carries no weight due to the influence that the landlords hold over the police.

SUGGESTED ACTION:

Please write letters to the following authorities urging them to immediately intervene in this case and provide protection for Mr. Kumbhar and his neighbors who have been evicted. Please also investigate the alleged perpetrators and the reported police involvement in allowing them to operate with impunity.

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