‘Feudals main hurdle in rural Sindh development’

Tribal chiefs and feudal lords in Sindh are the main hurdles in rural development and they are snatching away the rights of agriculture workers, said Kaiser Bengali while giving a presentation on the second day of the two-day international labour conference titled ‘Labour in the Age of Globalisation’ organised by the Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research (PILER) and the Pakistan Study Centre of the University of Karachi held at the PILER Centre on Thursday.
Representatives of leading trade unions from Sri Lanka, Nepal, Dhaka and all the provinces of Pakistan attended the conference and spoke about workers in industries, and agriculture and informal sectors.
The conference is a part of a series of events and interactive sessions being organised throughout this year to mark 30 years of PILER.
“During the floods, the sitting members of the parliament opposed the construction of bigger towns for the flood affected people because they wanted to keep the population as their captive workers,” Bengali said speaking during the session on ‘Climate Change: Impact on Livelihood & Labour’.
He said that there are forecasts that Pakistan would experience more floods and rains during the next 20 years.
“The poor workforce would be the main victims of these natural happenings. Rain disasters will definitely affect the agriculture products, which may cause food shortage,” he added.
He deplored the fact that due to the influence of feudal lords at district administration levels, the problems of the people are not addressed.
“I can give you examples that district management officials are appointed directly on the recommendation of tribal chiefs, instead on merit and according to legal procedures. In this situation, how can we expect these officials to address the problems faced by the poor working class people?” he said.
Bengali said that the 2010 floods had affected 7 million people in Sindh, and a small number of people had died during the floods, or due to hunger or diseases at the relief camps.
However, during the 2011 floods, human and livestock loss was more, because people were stuck due to heavy rains in the province, he added.
In his presentation titled ‘Climate Change Preparedness and Community Dialogue’, Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum Chairman Muhammad Ali Shah said that following the predictions of more disasters in the future, local communities should be involved in the process of preparedness to reduce their impacts.
He said that the indigenous people living in disaster-prone areas throughout generations know how to protect their lives and sources of livelihoods.
But the irony is that criminal negligence on the part of the government has made them vulnerable enough to endure displacement and destruction due to climate changes and its effects, he added.
He suggested that when the floods occur, the government should utilise the water by sowing seeds and planting tree saplings for forestation, as the forest department was doing in the past.
Shah said that fisherfolk are victims of industrialisation and they are suffering due to increasing amounts of carbon dioxide.
He said that fisherfolk living along the Arabian Sea coast are not contributing towards pollution, but they are the victims of the poisonous gases produced by industries.
“The rich countries should be asked to pay climate change debt to remove the vulnerability of the people living in disaster-prone areas, and spend on their rehabilitation. Due to ill-planning, the indigenous people are losing their natural resources,” he added.
He also said that vulnerable people living in the disaster-prone areas should be mobilised under a comprehensive plan to avoid any loss.
In this regard, he demanded to restore the natural flow of the Indus River to the sea to stop the rise of the sea level.
He also considers the construction of dams disastrous, and he opposed the development of the Bhasha Dam.
PILER Executive Director Karamat Ali said that discrimination against the poor exists at all levels, including on the basis of ethnicity, class, caste and creed.
He demanded to stop this discrimination. “Let the people live with dignity and enjoy a free life without any fear,” he said.
He said that after the insertion of Article 25-A in the 18th amendment of the constitution, the law says that all children between the ages of five and 16 years would be brought to schools to ensure 100 percent enrolment. But it is not being implemented, he added.
As a result, he went on to say, 2 million children of the poor are out of schools, because there is no school building available in their respective areas.
Talking about the status of unionism, Ali said that 50 years ago, 30 percent of the workforce was in unions, but presently, hardly three percent are part of a union.
He said that it is the responsibility of those organised workers to mobilise this informal sector workforce to strengthen the power of labour.
“We have success stories of peasants in Punjab, and fisherfolk and home-based workers in Sindh who have launched stronger campaigns. These movements serve as models to inspire other workers’ organisations to learn lessons and unite themselves,” he added.
He also said that major universities should encourage their students to pursue a PhD and prepare research papers on the status of labours.
The development professional Nikhat Sattar said that there is no law to monitor land utilisation in the country. Forest land is being converted into cultivated land, she added.
Similarly, she said, due to population growth, the trend of urbanisation has increased alarmingly. Extreme weather impacts, and declining production of wheat and other food products might cause further impacts on the poor in terms of food insecurity, she added.
Mariam Bibi of Khwanda Kor, who is struggling for the women of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, said that whenever disasters occur, women face more difficulties as compared to males.
Sharing recent experiences, she said that while receiving relief goods at camps, women preferred to stay away and most of them could not receive their share.
She emphasised the need that it is time to ensure women’s participation in the mainstream struggle. Women do not have access to communication advancement, she added.
Bisharat Ali, a researcher on bonded labour, said that during the 2011 flood disaster, landlords received subsidised items, but the sharecroppers were deprived of their benefits.
He said that the flood wiped out entire villages, but the government could not respond to these people for their rehabilitation.
Talking about the problems of brick kiln workers, he said that there are 55 brick kiln units in the Sanghar district, which have a workforce of 18,000.
“When the flood hit the area in 2011, owners of these kilns shifted poor workers’ families to other areas, fearing they will not return their debt. Almost all workers are trapped in the debt net and stay at the workplace like slaves. There is no law to check this situation and ensure their freedom,” he added.
In the session of South Asian labour, speakers from Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka spoke on the labour movement situation in their respective countries.
Those who spoke on the occasion included Arumugam Muthulingam and GVD Tilakasiri from Sri Lanka, Abul Hossain from Bangladesh and Ramesh Badal from Nepal.