A nation, who needs no enemy

Chief Justice Peshawar High Court (PHC) has observed that Agricultural land should never be used for commercial activities and if any project is underway then how should an alternative be utilized in this regard? During a hearing regarding the establishment of an Industrial Estate on agricultural land by the KP Small Industrial Board in Swabi, the court expressed its inability in halting the ongoing construction of the Industrial Estate.

The fact-finding commission constituted by the honorable Court informed the jury that the proposed Industrial Estate is being constructed on agricultural land and crops are grown on the sites. According to the Agricultural Department, only 83 acres of proposed land are baren out of a thousand acres of Greenland, which is also under cultivation by the farmers. The defense counsel highlighted that agriculture is meant only for the livelihood of local residents while the authorities declared their agricultural land as barren in a bid to establish the industrial estate.

Once, resources-rich and agricultural Pakistan has now been turned into a food-deficient state and a consumer market for multinational companies, and grain-producing nations in Europe and North America. Realistically, this change in status and transformation from a grower nation to a consumer hub did not happen overnight but it was the outcome of persistent insane and politically motivated policies of our leaders and bureaucracy that created a disastrous situation in the country. Today’s Pakistan is entirely dependent on imports in fulfilling most of its needs ranging from vegetables and pulses to automobiles, modern machinery, and locomotives.

There are multiple reasons for the agricultural degradation of the country, however, less cultivable land, a lack of irrigation facilities, exhaustion, and salination of soil, and anti-farming policies of the government such as the construction of infrastructure, housing, and commercial projects remained a major setback for the country’s agri-industry over the past decades. Recently, there had been tremendous outrage in the media regarding the construction of housing and commercial projects over thousands of acres of highly cultivatable green land in Gujranwala, Multan, Hyderabad, and Peshawar that caused grave concerns regarding policies of the rulers that persistently widened food insecurity and caused great challenges for economic sovereignty of the country.

In fact, there are specific legislations such as agricultural and industrial policies, policies for commercial and housing projects, governmental building codes as well as environmental guidelines that govern the use of all kinds of land for different purposes. However, the Pakistani leaders and government institutions had always toed a stubborn policy and displayed nonseriousness and laxity in the implementation of national decisions regarding developmental goals, and administrative and legal issues. This tendency always played role in making up major catastrophes in the past. Historically, our important policy decisions had always been influenced by the business cartels, institutional motives of civilian and military bureaucracy, and greed of the influential that high-rise commercial plazas and private housing colonies had been constructed on valuable government/military land in the heart of major cities in the country. Meanwhile, the giant of Real Estate runs through thousands of acres of cultivated land across the country and risks environmental pollution, grain shortages, and food insecurity.

The apex court has expressed its inability in providing alternative solutions and reprimanding the culprits, censuring the government institutions that did not stand up to their responsibility and directly contributed to the construction of an unlawful industrial complex over Greenland. In fact, this was not the first time that laid-down procedures and relevant laws had been violated vehemently for vested political or monetary interests. The courts must take a stren action against the officials concerned and order alternative/ remedial measures so this hateful tendency could be overcome, otherwise, a dark and long-suffering future awaits our future generations.