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PAKISTAN: Peasant activist targeted for exposing human rights violations of feudalism

August 4, 2009

ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION – URGENT APPEALS PROGRAMME

Urgent Appeal Case: AHRC-UAC-092-2009

4 August 2009

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PAKISTAN: Peasant activist targeted for exposing human rights violations of feudalism

ISSUES: Corruption, Abduction, land reclamation, police negligence,
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Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission has been informed that a peasant activist, who lives in Sindh Province, has received no protection or help from police despite being subjected to torture, countless threats, abduction and currently dispossession from his land by influential landowners; due to his human rights work in assisting those who remain as bonded labourers under powerful landlords.

CASE DETAILS:

Din Mohammad Kumbhar has worked for many years in trying to provide bonded labourers with equal rights despite continuous intimidation. Kumbhar is a resident of Village Fakir Din Mohammad in the province of Sindh. He has been central in the Hari movement that has sought to break the eternal servitude of the peasant to the feudal lords.

In 2008, armed persons surrounded Kumbhar’s village and fired indiscriminately. According to sources, henchmen of the following landowners all of which are politically affiliated with the Pakistan Peoples’ Party were responsible for the shooting: Mr. Shamasddin Hingorjo, Mr. Omar Gull Hingorjo, Mr. Suhrab Khan Mari and Mr. Ali Hassan. After Kumbhar went to Khipro police station to demand he be protected the police took no action to investigate the incident.

In June 2009, following Kumbhar’s complaint to the police he was abducted by men working for the above mentioned landlords and forced by gunpoint to give up the rights to his property. The forged documents in which he was made to sign stipulated that he must vacate his 4.5 acre land by October 20 2009 as well as the villagers living there. He repeatedly went to Khipro police station, but was told nothing could be done to help him.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION:

Throughout Kumbhar’s work as an activist on behalf of fighting for peasant rights, landowners with the assistance of police have threatened and used violence to silence him.

In Sindh, the existence of bonded labour is prominent.  This province has the highest rate of landlessness in Pakistan and more than 40 percent of the land in Sindh is tenanted out by big landlords. Most of the feudal landlords belong to the elite class of political coalitions or are from influential tribes. They are directly or indirectly supported by the influential feudal class of Pakistan. They also hold support from the police and local administrations by bribing them. Under this system people are in servitude to the feudal lord, never making enough money to survive and perpetually indebted. Bonded labour has enabled social disparities to exist from one generation to the next.

The government of Pakistan must recognize its obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). Article 8 of the ICCPR states: 1. No one shall be held in slavery; slavery and the slave-trade in all their forms shall be prohibited. 2. No one shall be held in servitude. 3. (a) No one shall be required to perform forced or compulsory labour’.

The Bonded Labour System Abolition Act of 1992 which prosecutes those responsible for keeping people in bondage carries no weight due to the influence that the landlords hold over the police.

SUGGESTED ACTION:

Please write letters to the following authorities urging them to immediately intervene in this case and provide protection for Mr. Kumbhar and his neighbors who have been evicted. Please also investigate the alleged perpetrators and the reported police involvement in allowing them to operate with impunity.

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SAMPLE LETTER:

Dear __________,

PAKISTAN: Peasant activist targeted for exposing human rights violations of feudalism

Name of victim:
Din Mohammad Kumbhar
Residents of Khipro, Saghar, Sindh Province, Pakistan
Name of alleged perpetrators:
1. Mr. Shamasddin Hingorjo,
2. Mr. Omar Gull Hingorjo
3. Mr. Suhrab Khan MariMr.
4. Mr. Ali Hassan
5. Khipro police station
Date of incident: June 2009
Place of incident: Village Fakir Din Mohammad in the province of Sindh.

I am writing to express my deep concern regarding the violence waged against Mr. Din Mohammad Kumbhar, a peasant activist and the police negligence taking place in Sindh.

In retaliation for Kumbhar’s involvement in protecting peasant rights allegedly the henchmen of politically connected landlords fired on his village. Following this attack he was abducted and was forced to sign over the rights to his property.

The Khipro police have failed to take this case seriously and have not taken any steps to investigate the threats and violence inflicted upon Kumbhar.

I urge that an immediate investigation be taken against the men responsible for the abduction and forcible confiscation of Mr. Kumbhar’s land as well as providing protection to the victims involved.  Please also demand that disciplinary and legal action be taken against the negligent police.

I look forward to your action in this matter.
Yours sincerely,
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PLEASE SEND YOUR LETTERS TO:

1. Mr. Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani
Prime minister of Pakistan
Prime Minister House
Islamabad
PAKISTAN
Fax: + 92 51 9221596
E-mail: secretary@cabinet.gov.pk 

2. Syed Qaim Ali Shah
Chief Minister House
Karachi, Sindh Province
PAKISTAN
Fax: +92 21 920 2000
E-mail: pppsindh@yahoo.com 

3. Mr. Muhammad Ayaz Soomro
Minister for Law, Parliamantry Affairs & Criminal Prosecution Service
Sindh Assembly Building,
Court road, Karachi, Sindh province
PAKISTAN
Fax: +92 21 9211982
E-mail: secy.law@sindh.gov.pk 

4. Chief Justice of Sindh High Court
High Court Building
Saddar, Karachi
Sindh Province
PAKISTAN
Fax: +92 21 9213220
E-mail: info@sindhhighcourt.gov.pk 

5. Ms. Nadia Gabol
Minister for Human Rights
Government of Sindh,
Pakistan secretariat, Barrack 92,
Karachi, Sindh Province
PAKISTAN
Fax: +92 21 9207044
Tel: +92 21 9207043
E-mail: lukshmil@yahoo.com 

6. Dr. Faqir Hussain
Registrar
Supreme Court of Pakistan
Constitution Avenue, Islamabad
PAKISTAN
Fax: + 92 51 9213452
E-mail: mail@supremecourt.gov.pk 

7. Inspector General of Police
Sindh Province,
Police Head office, I. I. Chundrigar road
Karachi, Sindh Province
PAKISTAN
Fax: +92 21 9212051
E-mail: ppo.sindh@sindhpolice.gov.pk

Thank you.

Urgent Appeals Programme
Asian Human Rights Commission (ua@ahrc.asia)

Document Type :
Urgent Appeal Case
Document ID :
AHRC-UAC-092-2009
Countries :
Issues :
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Extended Introduction: Urgent Appeals, theory and practice

A need for dialogue

Many people across Asia are frustrated by the widespread lack of respect for human rights in their countries.  Some may be unhappy about the limitations on the freedom of expression or restrictions on privacy, while some are affected by police brutality and military killings.  Many others are frustrated with the absence of rights on labour issues, the environment, gender and the like. 

Yet the expression of this frustration tends to stay firmly in the private sphere.  People complain among friends and family and within their social circles, but often on a low profile basis. This kind of public discourse is not usually an effective measure of the situation in a country because it is so hard to monitor. 

Though the media may cover the issues in a broad manner they rarely broadcast the private fears and anxieties of the average person.  And along with censorship – a common blight in Asia – there is also often a conscious attempt in the media to reflect a positive or at least sober mood at home, where expressions of domestic malcontent are discouraged as unfashionably unpatriotic. Talking about issues like torture is rarely encouraged in the public realm.

There may also be unwritten, possibly unconscious social taboos that stop the public reflection of private grievances.  Where authoritarian control is tight, sophisticated strategies are put into play by equally sophisticated media practices to keep complaints out of the public space, sometimes very subtly.  In other places an inner consensus is influenced by the privileged section of a society, which can control social expression of those less fortunate.  Moral and ethical qualms can also be an obstacle.

In this way, causes for complaint go unaddressed, un-discussed and unresolved and oppression in its many forms, self perpetuates.  For any action to arise out of private frustration, people need ways to get these issues into the public sphere.

Changing society

In the past bridging this gap was a formidable task; it relied on channels of public expression that required money and were therefore controlled by investors.  Printing presses were expensive, which blocked the gate to expression to anyone without money.  Except in times of revolution the media in Asia has tended to serve the well-off and sideline or misrepresent the poor.

Still, thanks to the IT revolution it is now possible to communicate with large audiences at little cost.  In this situation there is a real avenue for taking issues from private to public, regardless of the class or caste of the individual.

Practical action

The AHRC Urgent Appeals system was created to give a voice to those affected by human rights violations, and by doing so, to create a network of support and open avenues for action.  If X’s freedom of expression is denied, if Y is tortured by someone in power or if Z finds his or her labour rights abused, the incident can be swiftly and effectively broadcast and dealt with. The resulting solidarity can lead to action, resolution and change. And as more people understand their rights and follow suit, as the human rights consciousness grows, change happens faster. The Internet has become one of the human rights community’s most powerful tools.   

At the core of the Urgent Appeals Program is the recording of human rights violations at a grass roots level with objectivity, sympathy and competence. Our information is firstly gathered on the ground, close to the victim of the violation, and is then broadcast by a team of advocates, who can apply decades of experience in the field and a working knowledge of the international human rights arena. The flow of information – due to domestic restrictions – often goes from the source and out to the international community via our program, which then builds a pressure for action that steadily makes its way back to the source through his or her own government.   However these cases in bulk create a narrative – and this is most important aspect of our program. As noted by Sri Lankan human rights lawyer and director of the Asian Human Rights Commission, Basil Fernando:

"The urgent appeal introduces narrative as the driving force for social change. This idea was well expressed in the film Amistad, regarding the issue of slavery. The old man in the film, former president and lawyer, states that to resolve this historical problem it is very essential to know the narrative of the people. It was on this basis that a court case is conducted later. The AHRC establishes the narrative of human rights violations through the urgent appeals. If the narrative is right, the organisation will be doing all right."

Patterns start to emerge as violations are documented across the continent, allowing us to take a more authoritative, systemic response, and to pinpoint the systems within each country that are breaking down. This way we are able to discover and explain why and how violations take place, and how they can most effectively be addressed. On this path, larger audiences have opened up to us and become involved: international NGOs and think tanks, national human rights commissions and United Nations bodies.  The program and its coordinators have become a well-used tool for the international media and for human rights education programs. All this helps pave the way for radical reforms to improve, protect and to promote human rights in the region.