Sindh [Pakistan] August 19 : The Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F), Qaumi Awami Tehreek (QAT), and Awami Tehreek (AT) organised separate demonstrations across various locations in Sindh to protest against corporate farming and the Sindh government's negligence on Sunday, as detailed in a report by Dawn.
The JUI-F demonstration commenced at Jamia Masjid in Thull and concluded at Amroti Chowk, where participants conducted a sit-in. Addressing the crowd, JUI-F Jacobabad District Emir Dr. A.G. Ansari remarked that Sindh's valuable and fertile lands are being allocated to both local and foreign corporations under the guise of corporate farming.
He termed this a gross injustice to the province and its inhabitants and insisted that those lands should instead be assigned to landless farming families. He added that this marginalised group must receive access to water, electricity, fertiliser, and other agricultural tools to ensure their well-being, as noted in the Dawn report. The participants urged immediate actions to reinstate the state's authority in the dacoit-ridden riverine regions of upper Sindh and to achieve overall peace in the province.
The Qaumi Awami Tehreek (QAT) held a protest in Kandhkot against the federal government's corporate farming initiative, the ongoing water shortage in Sindh, and the provincial administration's failure to restore law and order in the upper Sindh districts. QAT leaders strongly criticised the intended 'auction' of Sindh's land for allocation to the corporate sector for agricultural purposes. They pledged to oppose such plans vigorously.
They expressed concern that the agricultural community in the province faced acute water shortages despite the actual availability of water resources. Hundreds of thousands of acres were becoming arid, raising significant alarm among farmers, they stated, and they called for immediate action to tackle this critical issue, as cited in the Dawn report.
The leaders emphasised the prevalence of crime in Kandhkot-Kashmore and surrounding upper Sindh districts, noting that law enforcement had been ineffective in curbing dacoit gangs, who continued to kidnap individuals for ransom, extort money from the general populace, and lure youths into their territories through deceitful means. Such criminal activities had become part of everyday life, they lamented. They demanded strong measures against these gangs to liberate the riverine areas from criminal elements, as highlighted by Dawn.
The Awami Tehreek (AT) conducted a demonstration in Khairpur Nathen Shah town in Dadu district on Sunday in protest against corporate farming, the construction of six new canals from the Indus River, and the appropriation of Sindh's lands and resources under various schemes, according to a press release. The rally began at the community centre of the town and ended outside the local press club, where participants engaged in a sit-in, as reported by Dawn.
They accused the authorities of "auctioning off" Sindh's lands under the corporate farming scheme while hatching conspiracies aimed at detaching Karachi from Sindh. They denounced recent comments made by a leader of FPCCI during a press conference in Karachi that advocated for a division of Sindh to form new provinces. "This is a tactic to incite unrest in Sindh," they stated, asserting that the people of Sindh would not accept such attacks on Karachi, a city of historical significance.
Additionally, the leaders reproached the Sindh government for its inability to implement preventative measures against damage caused by monsoon rains and flooding. They claimed that the allocated funds intended for the repair and strengthening of Indus embankments and protective bunds had been misappropriated by irrigation officials. They demanded accountability for the corrupt officials, following the report from Dawn.