Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Recollections and remembrances

irrigated land were to be exempted from the payment of income tax. Thisproposal was under way when Martial Law was imposed. This was not only anexemption front institutional burden but gave them freedom from traditionalvicious clutches of revenue collectors and litigation.LAND REFORMS IN BALUCHISTAN;For the settlement of the long outstanding problem of the area of pat feeder canalKachhi and Sibi, districts of Baluchistan, the Land Reforms (Baluchistan PatFeeder Canal) Regulation 1972 (MLR 117) was promulgated by the PeoplesGovernment. Some indication of the extent of this reforms may be had from thefact that 5,36,831 acres of land as declared state land and was being distributed tocultivating tenants at the rate of 16 acres to single and 32 acres to join tenantswhen Martial Law was imposed. In the first instance the sardars and biglandlords maneuvered to grab the entire land by securing BENAMI allotments inthe names of fictitious tenants. The Chairman F.L.C. after an on the spot inquiry,cancelled the bogus allotments and directed fresh allotments to be made togenuine tenants. Sardari system in Balochistan was abolished and exaction ofSHASHIK AND KHUMS were made unlawful.NATIONAL CHARTER FOR THE PEASANTS:On 18th December 1976 People’s Government issued a National Charter for thepeasants of Pakistan. The government took a bold step about the distribution ofstate land among landless tenants and poor peasants owning less thansubsistence holdings. A National Charter for the peasants was issued whereby, inthe addition to conferring proprietary rights of the land on the occupancy tenantsand grantees of state land it was declared that all cultivable state land includingKatcha Lands of Sindh will be distributed with full ownership rights amongpeasants who either own no land or own less than subsistence holdings, and inno case state land will be auctioned or given on lease in large tracts. According toan estimate 50.23.165 acre of cultivable state land was then readily available forthe purpose in addition to katcha lands of Sindh. Here also the provincialgovernments whose duty it was to distribute the same dilly dallied for ulteriormotive. The big land lords were required to give up possession of large tracts ofstate and Katcha Land illegally occupied by them. It will be proper to quote herethe remarks of Bhutto Shaheed which shows his deep urge for the welfare of thepeasantry. These in the following terms “All power to the peasants, Allah bless themand their children”.CO-OPERATIVE FARMING:Co-operative farms are by nature specific socialist agricultural enterprises whichdevelop and are improved on the bases of pooling of the means of productionZulfikar Ali Bhutto, Recollections and Remembrances; Copyright © www.bhutto.org 111