Environmental activists and rights bodies have raised concerns over the forcible eviction of thousands of farmers for a massive infrastructure project near the city of Lahore in Pakistan’s Punjab province.
In its report on April 11, the Human Rights Watch (HRW) reiterated that the Pakistani government needs to reform its colonial-era laws in order to protect the environment and the land rights of people.
“The government is taking over fertile land that provides food not only for the farmers but for the entire city of Lahore and replacing it with a concrete jungle that only benefits government officials, property developers, and rich people,” a farmer was quoted as saying by HRW.
The Ravi Riverfront Urban Development Project was initiated in August 2020 with to address “issues of pollution, sewage, housing and employment.” According to the plan, a 40,000 hectare (1,000 sq km) planned city would be constructed on either side of the Ravi river, which some claim would be a replica of Dubai and London.
Proponents of this megacity claim that it will relieve the population pressure on Lahore by promoting vertical riverfront development. The project also envisages channeling and rehabilitating the river into a perennial fresh water body.
However, environmental groups fear that the project’s proposed changes can have wide-reaching implications as it will change the flow of the river, therefore, increase the risk of flooding. A report by Third Pole suggests that floods along the Ravi get bigger every three to five years, and they can spread around one km on each side.
Pakistan is yet to recover from the devastation of the 2022 floods that had submerged almost two-third of the country and not only led to deaths and damage to infrastructure and crops, but also caused famine-like conditions in several rural areas with acute shortages of food and drinking water, along with a healthcare crisis amid rising water-borne diseases and poverty.
In the HRW report, dozens of farmers complained of having faced evictions, threats, and harassment from the authorities in the past two years. The rights body claimed that the government has been acting on the behalf of private developers to acquire the dwellers property.
“85 percent of (estimated properties) is agricultural land occupied by nearly one million farmers, laborers and business owners,” the HRW reported.
Meanwhile, those affected families who have challenged the legality of the land seizures have either “faced criminal charges” or “intimidation” from the Ravi Urban Development Authority (RUDA) and other concerned bodies.
HRW noted that at least 100 farmers have been penalized under different criminal charges for posing some sort of resistance in handing over their lands. In October 2022, the RUDA filed criminal cases against several farmers for resisting handing over their lands and houses to the government.
The Ravi River project had been termed “unconstitutional” by the Lahore High Court in January 2022, which found “gross irregularities” in the project and suggested that it violated domestic laws concerning forcible acquisition of land, compensation to the displaced, and environmental impact assessment.
This ruling was partially overruled by the Supreme Court within a week, allowing the government to continue development on the lands it had already acquired by paying the due compensation. Farmers have repeatedly accused the incumbent Punjab government of forcibly seizing their lands despite the top court’s ruling last year.
A large percentage of the population living on the proposed project area which the government wants to acquire relies on farming for their economic survival. It is feared that if authorities seize their lands thousands of farmers will be rendered jobless and subsequently plunge into poverty.
In 2020, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) released its report highlighting the ecological and financial dangers posed by the project to the province of Punjab. The head of the Ravi Urban Development Victims Committee, Mian Mustafa Rasheed, also echoed similar apprehensions and blamed the previous Imran Khan-led government for introducing this plan that is solely “meant for industrialists and the land mafias.”
