Oppression of Pakistan’s
caricatured feudalism
By: Farooq Tariq
Large swathes of Pakistan are
in the stranglehold of caricatured feudalism. These feudal relations are
increasingly penetrated by finance capital as it imposes itself on social
relations, politics and the economy itself. It has made the lives of millions
miserable, deepening and brutalizing class exploitation. Rampant inequality and
poverty remain chronic issues as millions can still be considered bonded
labour. Such a harrowing situation is revealed by the fact that only five per
cent of agricultural households in Pakistan own nearly two thirds of the
farmland.
In the Indian subcontinent
the system prevailing before the advent of the British was known as Asiatic
Mode of Production, or as Karl Marx put it, “Asiatic despotism.” The land was
not privately owned but a common ownership of agricultural land. In this sense
it was egalitarian. Feudalism was imposed by British imperialists through the
Permanent Settlements Act. “Classical” feudalism, as described within the
European context, never existed.
The Permanent Settlement Act
was introduced first in Bengal and Bihar by the East India Company’s
administrative head and later extended by Governor General, Lord Cornwallis
over northern India in a series of regulations dated 1 May 1793. With it the
British colonialists bestowed vast tracts of land mainly to the revenue
collectors (zemindars) in order to raise land revenue. This grafted native
Indians onto the British structure, insuring their loyalty to British
authority.
After partition this class,
along with the comprador bourgeoisie, became Pakistan’s hybrid ruling class. In
their failure to carryout a national democratic revolution as the European
bourgeois did in the 18th and 19th centuries Pakistan’s capitalists failed to
abolish feudalism. Thus Pakistan was suspended in a hybrid model of feudal and
capitalist relations.
Over the last few decades a
new form of feudalism emerged particularly during the periods of military
dictatorship. With the help of the state machinery, the poor, small landholders
are forced to hand over their land to a particular family for insignificant
sums. New feudal owners like Jahangir Tareen of Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek
Insaaf now own thousands of acres of land. He has become a typical Pakistani
feudalist: a “well-educated” person who, with the help of military dictators,
was able to buy sugar mills along with thousands of acres of land. It’s a
vulgar combination of feudalism and capitalism.
The landlords’ base of power
over local people is takes place at every step. Debt bondage is passed down
"generation after generation" and the landlord controls the
"distribution of water, fertilizers, tractor permits and agricultural
credit." This in turn gives them influence over the "revenue, police
and judicial administration" of local government and its officials. In
recent times, particularly harsh feudalism has existed in rural Sindh,
Baluchistan and some parts of Southern Punjab. It is a form of slavery in 21st
century Pakistan.
The feudal system is not
confined to the political arena. Land ownership links feudal lords to
Pakistan’s various other patronage networks. Landlords, such as Shah Mahmood
Qureshi, act as religious patron saints to thousands of peasant as their disciples,
who loyally vote for their feudal lords in elections. The Pakistani army is
also deeply entrenched in this hybrid economy. It is an important action
particularly in the industry and services sector as well as in the parallel
economy.
However its elite layers are
also part of the landed aristocracy, amassing vast landed estates. Army
officers are bequeathed agricultural lands for serving in the army, and these
are often rented out to larger landowners. In Punjab alone 68000 acres of
agriculture land is directly or indirectly occupied by the Military Farms
administration. Any struggle for their rights by those tenants has been
ferociously crushed by the state and its civilian administration.
Ayub Khan’s land reform
failed to deliver after it was introduced in 1959. Similarly the landed
aristocracy in connivance with bureaucracy avoided the execution of Zulfiqar
Ali Bhutto’s land reforms in 1972 and 1977. The idea of land reform was simple
– take the land from the rich and distribute it amongst the poor free of cost.
However the broad based Land
Reform Act of 1977 was challenged by Qazalbash Waqf. He sued, arguing that
Islamic laws provide broad protection from expropriation if the owners’
property was acquired through legitimate means, and the Supreme Court of
Pakistan agreed. A petition against this decision of the Shariat Applets Court
has been pending since 2012, but a hearing has yet to be set. When the military
dictator Zia ul Haq came into power in 1977 with his Islamization agenda he
fully used religious edicts in the interest of landlords and capitalists.
After he took control, it was
announced that 1) no law in Pakistan may be repugnant to the Holy Quran and the
Sunnah and 2) federal Sharia courts were established to serve the interests of
Pakistan’s property owners. Looking over the last seventy years it is
reasonable to conclude that state structures reinforce the power of landlords
and capitalists and oppose an agrarian revolution.
An urban solution to the
poverty of peasants?
An increasing number of small
and marginal farmers migrate to urban areas to escape poverty. In fact Pakistan
is already the most highly urbanized country in South Asia. Clearly increasing
migration from the rural areas will create more pressure on already stretched
infrastructure of urban metropolises.
Additionally, as industrial growth in the country remains stunted, and much of the installed industrial base is already capital-intensive, most migrants will be forced to work in the services sector. Thus majority will probably end up working in the informal or black economy at extremely low wages and atrocious working conditions, reinforcing the cycle of poverty and exclusion.
Additionally, as industrial growth in the country remains stunted, and much of the installed industrial base is already capital-intensive, most migrants will be forced to work in the services sector. Thus majority will probably end up working in the informal or black economy at extremely low wages and atrocious working conditions, reinforcing the cycle of poverty and exclusion.
Small farmers and peasants
Let’s look at some of the
actual situation of small farmers and peasants. In 2017, Agriculture
contributed about 24% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Pakistan and accounted
for half of employed labour force. Important crops are wheat, cotton, rice,
sugarcane and maize. The full potential of crop production is still a dream.
While over 60% of the
population consists of small farmers, peasants and landless peasants, there is
not a single school or a training center for hands-on-job farmers. [Is this
actually true, or did I misunderstand something?] Extension Services that can
educate and guide farmers with sound advice remain dormant. The knowledge gap
is filled with the sales representatives of supply companies. Of course their
advice is to urge farmers to buy inputs, driving them into greater debt while
decreasing the quality of their produce and leading to greater environmental
pollution.
Pakistan’s underground water
level dropped an average of over 80 feet in the past 20 years due excessive
pumping. This has caused wastage and salinity in the soil, resulting in
reducing the land’s fertility. Both the quality and quantity of agricultural
production is declining. Industrial agriculture, introduced in late 1960s, uses
inorganic materials and genetically modified seeds.
Despite much opposition by
peasant and civil society organisations (CSOs) and small farmers, the Senate of
Pakistan approved the Seed (Amendment) Act in early 2016. According to the
amendment, no unregistered person, whether farmers or institutions, will be
allowed to stock, sell or exchange any seeds without official permission. It is
a punishable crime with prescribed fines and imprisonment.
This is in contrast to the
1976 Seed Act, which was a farmer friendly. The earlier act made citizens
sovereign over their seeds and placed responsibility for seed development
registration on the public sector alone. In contrast, the present Seed Act
allows multinational corporations to produce basic seeds for its multiplication
and certification. Further the corporations are now in charge of accredited seed
testing laboratories.
Industrial agriculture
interrupts essential natural processes that sustain soil fertility. Instead of
supplementing natural ecosystem dynamics, this kind of agriculture substitutes
its inputs of energy and chemicals that disrupt and/or displace biological
processes.
Agricultural productivity
depends fundamentally on the sustained FERTILITY of soil systems and on the
SUFFICIENCY of productive resources – land, water, labour, and capital.
However, there are no mechanisms for helping the small farmers and peasants.
They are the real losers at the hands of the corporate seed and fertilizer
companies.
The situation of rural
labourers is graver than for the peasantry. More than 80% of rural workers do
not own their homes; they live under the age-old semi feudal system, which does
not grant them right to shelter. Therefore all human settlements that are
located on state land held by any civil and non-civil government departments or
institutions remain unregistered. Government policies are designed to support
landowners and those who own agricultural processing.
Peasant struggles
One of the most daring
examples of peasant resistance has come from the tenants of the Okara Military
Farms. They have constantly fought for their land rights over 18 years. However
the repression of these tenants has also continued. Most of the leaders of
Anjuman Mazarin Punjab (AMP) have been in jail since 2015. The main AMP leader,
Mehar Abdul Sattar, is now locked up at the Pakistani “Guantánamo Bay detention
center,” the High Security Jail at Sahiwal, which is meant for convicted
religious terrorists.
The AMP, a component of
Pakistan Kissan Rabita Committee, has been advocating land rights specifically
at the Okara Military Farms. The tenants and their ancestors have been working
on these lands – which comprise 68,000 acres -- for the last 100 years.
Successive civilian governments have promised them land rights but have been
unable to fulfill these promises due to the pressure of the military.
The AMP was formed in 2000,
when General Musharraf’s dictatorship tried to change the status of the tenants
into lessee. This was a tactic to remove them from the land over the long
term.. At that moment the tenants revolted and refused to pay the share of the
crop that they were accustomed to pay. They told authorities that they had paid
enough and would pay no more.
Since that time severe state
repression has been unleashed. Eleven tenants have been killed in various
incidents and hundreds arrested under anti-terrorist laws. Women are in the
forefront of the movement and have also been subjected to arrests and physical
beating by the police and rangers.
The task of ending feudalism
and attaining rights of the poor peasants can be accomplished through a class
struggle of the workers and the peasants under the leadership of the
proletariat vanguard. Such a struggle by overthrowing this system through a
socialist revolution can ensure the basic rights and collective ownership of
the land, means of production and a democratic control of the state and society
by the toiling masses.
By: Farooq Tariq
General secretary
Pakistan Kissan Rabita
Committee
farooqtariq@hotmail.com
1 comment:
Excellent post and valuable in understanding the country today. This gives me a foundation, so thank you.
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