HRCP mission wants equal access to land in Cholistan

LAHORE:The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has expressed concern over the continued marginalisation of indigenous communities in Cholistan, following a fact-finding mission to the region in October 2024.

Residents across the region reported that fertile land and traditional grazing areas were being systematically appropriated, leaving livestock farmers and local communities without viable alternatives. Although the Punjab government had announced a land allotment scheme in 2010, balloting was not carried out until 2023, naming nearly 26,000 Cholistanis as beneficiaries.

The mission’s findings, however, suggest that the relief was problematic in design and implementation, failing to address long-standing structural issues as well as the idea that such schemes should be limited to local communities. Most locals complained that they were allotted barren land and had not yet received official allotment letters, while non-locals had received leases for fully or partially cultivable land under the same scheme. Under a joint venture agreement signed with the Punjab government in March 2023, a 20-year lease (extendable by 10 years) was granted on a profit-sharing basis.

Equally troubling are reports that residents who attempted to peacefully protest in 2023 were allegedly denied permission by the district administration, raising serious concerns about violations of the Constitutional right to peaceful assembly.

HRCP demanded the government, the Cholistan Development Authority, and all state institutions concerned to institute urgent reforms to ensure transparent, equitable, and rights-based land allotment; end all illegal land occupation, regardless of the identity or influence of those involved; uphold the rule of law by ending all forms of coercion or intimidation against dissenting residents. These reforms must also protect the rights of minorities and ensure that women and transgender persons can access and benefit from land policies equally.