Hari leaders on Saturday vowed to fight poverty, unemployment and price-hike together, saying faulty government policies have empowered feudal lords, who are exploiting the natural resources.
Speaking at the National Hari Conference in Hyderabad, they said majority of the rural people associated with agriculture have been living in virtual serfdom of the landed elite.
The conference was organised by the Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum (PFF), in which hundreds of peasant women, men and youth hailing from different districts participated.
PFF Chairman Muhammad Ali Shah, Pakistan Institute of Labour Education & Research Executive Director Karamat Ali, writer Zaheer Akhtar Badri, Sindh Agricultural & Forestry Workers Coordinating Organisation leader Suleman Abro, Strengthening Participatory Organisation Regional Manager Mustafa Baloch, Hari Porhiat Council leader Punhal Sario, Hari activist Ahmed Jamali, Advocate Sattar Sarki, Zulfiqar Halepoto, Javed Soz Halai, South Asia Partnership-Pakistan’s Hyderabad office head Shahnaz Sheedi, senior journalist Ishaq Mangrio, Hakeem Zangejo and others spoke on the occasion.
PFF, after uniting fishermen, has initiated a campaign to unite this marginalised workforce (haris) to take their issues related to job security and right to house, and make them productive so they could live with dignity.
The speakers said that Sindh characterises with big land holdings, resulting in expanding the power base of landlords and the deprivation and exploitation of peasants.
Talking about the status of farmers, the speakers said that unequivocal distribution of land has continued since the inception of Pakistan, which has been at the helm of exploitation of the peasants in the province of Sindh.
Since the mechanism of product’s share distribution is lacking, the workforce feels insecure and yields little earnings. Farmers are facing unending social vulnerabilities.
They said that haris are being pushed into a quagmire of marginalisation where they do not receive fair share of their crops. They do not have access to shelter and are slapped with debt-bondage.
They pointed out that the two successive catastrophes of floods and heavy monsoon rains in 2010 and 2011 have exposed the vulnerabilities of the peasants.
They said that even before the disasters unleashed, the haris in Sindh were living without the facilities of health, education, potable water and shelter.
They said that the state has failed to comply with its obligatory duties of ensuring basic rights to all citizens, as enshrined in the constitution.
The irony is that the government initiated schemes to write off agriculture loans and provided free of charge seed, fertiliser and other facilities considering that growers might resume their livelihood activities after huge loss, but these could not benefit the landless haris.
They demanded the government to introduce land reforms, especially in Sindh, saying that state land should be distributed among those who have the first right to that land.
To address poverty, they said that the poor need assets to sustain their livelihoods, which in case of rural areas are titles to land.
Formal land entitlements should be extended to the shelter-less settlers, particularly to the womenfolk of the local communities.
They said that agricultural development, in which better productive land and resources are provided to the poor, is key to poverty reduction and directly proportional to the food security of agriculture workers.
They also said that multinational companies are supplying contaminated pesticides, which not only are hazardous to their health, but are also causing the land to be infertile. They demanded to ban such companies and save the farmers’ lives.
During the event, different theatre groups of young girls performed tableaux and renowned poet Zahid Shaikh recited his poetry.
