EDITORIAL: That the first stage of digitised cadastral mapping of state land has revealed encroachment worth Rs5.5 trillion, of which Rs2.3 trillion is in just three cities (Lahore, Karachi and Islamabad) while Rs1.8 trillion is forest land, is “shocking” indeed, as the prime minister himself put it. Yet now that the government is in possession of this information it should not be too difficult to honour the PM’s promise of stern action against all those responsible for it. This is precisely why the decision to launch cadastral mapping for Islamabad in mid-September was widely appreciated. Land-grabbing has long been one of the biggest problems in the country. It has kept the judiciary tangled in endless land litigation, bloated the patwari, spooked foreign investment, and hurt the economy. Now it turns out that it has also “aggravated Pak’s existing lack of sufficient forest cover,” according to Prime Minister Imran Khan’s tweet on Sunday, and played no small part in ruining our climate as well.
It’s no surprise that the initiative to digitise land records rubbed certain lobbies the wrong way, and they did what they could not to let it happen. But for the PM to equate this matter with the friction caused over electronic voting machines (EVMs) and hold only the opposition responsible for the uproar risks, even if it is partially correct, diluting the real problem. For even if politicians took the lead in stealing private and public land all these years, which is very likely, it could not have been possible without the help of unelected elements within the government machinery who were only too eager to play along in return for their own piece of the pie. Therefore, while action against the encroachers identified so far must be taken very urgently, the operation that the PM has vowed against this problem must also shake government departments to see what falls out.
Sorting this problem out will make a lot of things work right at the same time. It will free the legal system from a lot of unnecessary hassles, give overseas Pakistanis the confidence to invest in property, construction and real estate back home once again, and also embolden banks to lend more vigorously to this sector. Never really short of liquidity, banks usually shy away from lending to this sector because of all the headaches that come with legal confrontations with the land mafia. Nobody should forget that this problem forced the governor of Punjab to resign not too long ago because even his office was unable to provide any help to expat Pakistanis whose lands were occupied by so-called qabza groups. Yet now it is easy to understand what the PM meant when he said that cadastral mapping was the one sure way to defang all such special interest groups who make a living out of breaking the law and stealing other people’s, and the state’s, land.
As cadastral mapping shows the way, it also proves the case for digitising the economy and all government records. It is therefore very heartening that the country’s still embryonic startup ecosystem has managed to attract record levels of venture capital over the last couple of years. One of the more welcome unintended consequences of putting its weight behind digitisation, which the government seems to be doing, can also be blunting the damaging pace of brain drain from the country. If young, brilliant minds can find government support to set up innovative outlets that leverage the information highway to cater to people’s needs, and make a fair buck for themselves in the process, then not too many of them would be easily lured to greener pastures elsewhere.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021
Comments
Comments are closed.