Daily Times | September 15, 2009
Staff Report
LAHORE: Lahore High Court (LHC) Chief Justice (CJ) Khawaja Muhammad Sharif on Monday sought a report and comments from the federal government by September 29 on a petition challenging the proposed sale or lease of millions of acres of agricultural land to other countries.
Pakistan Kissan Board President Sardar Zafar Hussain moved the petition, alleging the government was planning to sell or lease 0.5 million acres to Saudi Arabia and 1 million acres to Gulf States and other countries. He submitted the land, which was being offered to Saudi Arabia, was double the size of Hong Kong and the action would amount to depriving the people of rich and fertile soil.
The petitioner claimed the sale of land on such a massive scale could threaten the sovereignty of the country because the people of the sub-continent had faced the same problem when the East India Company had entered this region for trade, but ultimately snatched the freedom of the people. The petitioner said the poor peasants deserved to get more land for the welfare of their families and in the long run for the economic uplift of the country.
He requested the court to stop the government from such ‘anti-state’ acts and restrain it from selling or leasing Pakistani land to foreigners. He said the government should itself cultivate the land.
