Sindh agri workers protest against land mafia

Sindh Agriculture General Workers Union and Hari HaqdarTahreek (HHT) arranged a demonstration at Hyderabad Press Club to protest against forced occupation and burning of houses of Bheel community by land mafia.
The demonstration was led by the union general secretary Comrade Lal Bakhsh Lalan and Hari Haqdar VP Sabhagi Bheel. In addition to the affected people, representatives of labour and human rights organizations also participated in the protest.
Speaking at the demonstration, National Trade Union Federation of Pakistan (NTUF) secretary general Nasir Mansoor said the land mafia was now active in rural areas as was in cities and the ancient settlers were being evicted with the connivance of the administration. Attempts are being made to seize the 100-year-old Bheel Mori Goth near the town of Hala, which contains more than 200 houses of landless farmers, and the local administration is backing the illegal operation of land mafia. If this does not stop, the scope of the protest will be widened, he warned.
Explaining the details of attack on Bheel Mori Goth, Hari HaqdarTehreek VP Sabhagi Bheel said in broad daylight on May 10, land mafia ring leaders Luqman Rajput, Jamil Rajput, Ali Muawiyah and their other two dozen armed thugs attacked the village and some houses were set on fire, killing the cattle and leaving several residents barely able to save their lives. The thugs continued firing but the police failed to stop them and the people of Goth started protesting and lodged an FIR at the local police station. A few attackers have been arrested while the real culprits are still at large.
Women Hari leader added that the area has become very valuable due to its location within the city limits and on main road. So the land mafia has an eye on it and also prepared forged documents in collaboration with the Revenue Department.
She informed that the village was very old settlement even before the inception of Pakistan but now mafia wants to take it in the claim. There have been several attempts made to seize the land of this century old Goth for two years but each time the farm workers had thwarted the attempts with their unity.