http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=204779
Leftists slate sale of agricultural land
Saturday, October 24, 2009
News Desk
Karachi
The
sale of agricultural land to investors from the Gulf and other
countries would hasten the collapse of the agricultural structure of
the country, and push the country further towards social and economic
insecurity, said leftist leaders at a demonstration held on Friday.
The
demonstration was organised by Communist Mazdoor Kissan Party (CMKP),
National Workers Party (NWP), Labour Party Pakistan (LPP), Awami Party
Pakistan (APP) and Communist Party Pakistan (CPP).
CMKP
Secretary General Ejaz Ghani said that agricultural lands in Hyderabad,
Mirpur Khas, Sukkur and Larkana are being sold off to Arabian
investors.
He said that under the pretext of corporate
farming, another 600,000 acres of land are being sold to Saudi Arabia,
while companies from Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Korea, Japan and
other countries are also poised to buy land in the country.
Ghani
said that seeds, agri-chemicals food processing machinery, storage and
other machinery would be brought into the country. On the surface, such
measures are laudable, but experiences in other developing countries
had proved that the foundations of the agricultural system would weaken
if corporate farming is introduced.
He said that the sale of
agricultural land to foreign investors and multi-national corporations
ties into neo-colonial interests of imperialism and its cronies, and
such a policy would push the commonfolk towards further economic and
political enslavement.
NWP Secretary General Akhtar Hussain said
that the entrenchment of corporate farming is bound to create adverse
environmental impacts for the agricultural sectors. He said that the
water table would decline considerably, and turn productive land into
barren tracts.
Leaders of the demonstration demanded that
corporate farming should be abolished and plans to sell agricultural
land to foreigners should be immediately shelved.
They said
that feudalism should be brought to an end, and comprehensive land
reforms undertaken so that land can be distributed among landless
peasants, Haaris and small land-owners.
They also demanded
that governmental should seize control of soil, seeds and pesticides,
while the prices of all agricultural essentials should also be reduced.
The
parties also announced that they had launched a concerted movement
across the country for the establishment of basic economic and
political rights of all citizens, and the demo on Friday was just the
first of many protests to follow.
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