Plight of the Pahi Kasht

When it comes to environmental conservation and social responsibility, the decades-long experience coupled with devastating human credentials spanning over a century, substantiate recurrent warnings of an imminent environmental Armageddon nearing Pakistan. Amidst a doomsday scenario, the province of Sindh tops the list of the mostly affected regions in terms of environmental degradation and ecosystem decline that can be seen in the form of catastrophic rains, increasing floods, acute water scarcity, etc. Compared to the urban localities of Sindh, the rural part of the province tends to be the most affected, owing to continued negligence and apathy on the part of the authorities.

For the people of Sindh, unfortunately, the year 2020 will be remembered as one of the worst years in terms of drastic climate changes and unusual weather conditions. In August, for instance, a record-breaking monsoon spell wreaked havoc in southern parts of Sindh in particular. In addition to that, thousands of people were displaced along with destruction of such major crops as cotton, rice, sugarcane and vegetables, mostly at harvesting stage. As per the statistics released by the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) of Sindh, a severe crop damage of over 1.128 million hectares was recorded only in the monsoon season this year and thus a total of 20 districts were declared by the Sindh government as calamity-affected areas.

Broadly speaking, agriculture is the mainstay of the rural economy of Sindh where almost every household, directly or indirectly, is associated with agriculture. However, most people are merely sharecroppers as they cultivate land without any ownership stake in the land. As per some rough estimates, more than 70 per cent people in rural Sindh work as landless farmers.

Whenever hit by a natural disaster, the lives of landless peasants are always at a higher risk of food and livelihood insecurity and yet they are unable to file claim damages since they don't have land ownership rights. Though the year 2020 is nearing its end, the hundreds and thousands of displaced families are still living in camp-like settings without any sanitation and water facility. To make matters worse, a harsh winter is adding another misery to their dejected, debt-ridden lives, which are mercilessly exploited and sold into bonded servitude by their landlords, mostly over non-payment of mounting debts.

Most landlords and feudal chiefs in rural Sindh run their private jails that are primarily set up to detain and imprison debt-strapped, bonded peasants and farmers, locally known as 'Haris,' including their women and children, who are sometimes released on the protests of human rights groups. Last year in 2019, a total of 1722 bonded peasants, 606 children and about 583 women were released on court orders, says the latest report titled “Peasants Rights in Sind in 2019”, issued by the Hari Welfare Association.

Historically speaking, the land has always been the most important asset for the people of the subcontinent, while a skewed distribution of land on the basis of caste can be traced back to Vedic age – nearly two thousand years. Because of the caste-based system, most importantly, the upper castes enjoy a dominant position in rural social and economic life. The history of the subcontinent suggests the fact that the ancient and medieval rulers on numerous occasions granted land, mostly to the members of upper castes. However, as time passed by, religious leaders, nobles, people of high social rank and civil-military officials also emerged as the beneficiaries of land freebies.

As per the caste structure, the farmers of the middle caste status were entitled to cultivate land by using the family labour. Referred to as 'Khud Kasht,' they were eligible for land ownership. In contrast, most communities who were low in the caste hierarchy were not allowed to own land. Having rendered landless for keeps, the lot of destitute farmers and landless peasants was later re-christened as 'Pahi Kasht.'

Surprisingly, the centuries-long colonial rule in the subcontinent did not bring any changes or much-needed reforms in the land distribution system. Rather, the colonial masters played a heinous role in reinforcing the injustice of the caste, class and race-based land distribution. Adding fuel to the flames, the East India Company enacted the Permanent Settlement Act in 1793 to officially recognize landlords as legal landowners, vesting them with complete authority and unrestricted rights to own, use, sell and transfer land.

Thanks to the oppressive British rule, the haris of Sindh were downgraded from land cultivators to sharecroppers and the head men of villages and rural areas were given full rights of land inheritance. Thereby, the number of landless peasants was increased drastically.

After the creation of Pakistan in 1947, the same land ownership and distribution system was wholly adopted and is still followed in the country, more's the pity. Considering the prevailing climate pattern and its disastrous impact, the miseries of landless peasants will certainly exacerbate with each passing year. Strange as it may seem, a temporary respite cannot bring an end to the perpetual sufferings of the bonded and enslaved haris of Sindh unless their status is elevated from that of a mere sharecropper to that of a fully fledged landowner.