May 17, 2025
By Rehan Piracha
LAHORE
A damning fact-finding report by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has unveiled systemic inequities in land distribution, corruption, and the encroachment of corporate farming in Cholistan, leaving indigenous communities marginalised and dispossessed. Titled Unequal Claims: Land Rights in Cholistan, the report documents widespread irregularities in land allotments, the dominance of powerful state institutions, and the dire socio-economic conditions faced by locals.
A neglected region
Cholistan, spanning 6.6 million acres across Bahawalpur, Bahawalnagar, and Rahim Yar Khan districts, is home to 276,674 people, with Hindus constituting the largest religious minority. Despite contributing 13% of Pakistan’s meat production and sustaining 1.38 million livestock, the region remains one of the country’s most neglected areas.
HRCP’s mission, conducted from October 28 to 31, 2024, revealed that land allotment schemes under the Colonization of Government Lands (Punjab) Act 1912 have been marred by delays, corruption, and exclusionary practices. The latest scheme, announced in 2010, saw balloting only in December 2023, with 26,000 of 53,000 applicant families declared successful. However, most were allotted barren, uncultivable land, while fertile tracts were allegedly reserved for corporate farming ventures linked to state institutions and foreign investors.
Barren land and broken promises
The report highlights that 99% of successful applicants received land categorized as 100 percent bareen (barren), requiring exorbitant costs to flatten sand dunes and access groundwater. “The hardship in irrigating the barren land was compelling Cholistani people to sublet the land to influential non-Cholistani landlords at nominal rates,” the report states.
Respondents alleged that the Cholistan Development Authority (CDA) demanded bribes to issue warrant dakhal (allotment letters). One resident lamented, “The officials keep asking us to visit the CDA office in Bahawalpur, but nothing gets done despite the onerous and expensive journey.” Others claimed CDA officials cited land seizures by “big brothers” (a euphemism for the military) as justification for withholding allotments.
Corporate farming and displacement
The report sharply criticizes the Punjab government’s 2023 joint venture with the Pakistan Army, leasing one million acres for corporate farming under a 20-year extendable agreement. This move, challenged in court but later upheld, has displaced local communities and eroded grazing land. “Forty-five villages were taken over by powerful state institutions for corporate farming,” the report notes, adding that foreign investors and military officers were primary beneficiaries.
A resident of Channan Peer reported, “Corporate farming is destroying deer’s natural habitat, and the deer are now only seen in hunting zones operated by foreigners.” Grazing lands, critical for livestock—the backbone of Cholistan’s economy—are being repurposed, forcing herders into night grazing, exposing them to snake bites and other dangers.
Systemic discrimination and exclusion
The HRCP found that women, transgender persons, and religious minorities were systematically excluded from land rights. While the 2013 notification did not explicitly bar women, the CDA’s practices favored married men, with some officials demanding nikah nama (marriage certificates) to process claims. Hindu respondents reported shrinking grazing land, pushing them into bonded labor at brick kilns or exploitative farm work.
The mission also noted the absence of basic infrastructure: no cellular networks, poor roads, and inadequate schools and health facilities. “Travel, especially at night, was strictly regulated by the Rangers amid ‘security’ concerns,” violating residents’ right to mobility.
HRCP’s recommendations
The HRCP’s report concludes with a series of urgent recommendations aimed at addressing the systemic inequities in Cholistan. The commission calls on the Cholistan Development Authority (CDA) to immediately issue pending allotment letters to successful applicants from the 2023 balloting, remove bureaucratic obstacles, and ensure rightful lessees gain full possession and control of their land.
Additionally, the CDA must tackle corruption within its ranks through effective inquiry mechanisms and establish a transparent grievance redressal system for complainants. The authority is also urged to develop adequate water supply schemes, construct proper water storage facilities for both people and livestock, and ensure sufficient grazing land is preserved while protecting natural habitats from the adverse effects of corporate farming. To improve accessibility, the HRCP recommends setting up CDA sub-offices in strategic locations to bring administrative services closer to residents.
For the Punjab Assembly, the HRCP demands a comprehensive review and amendment of the Cholistan Development Act 1976 to grant the CDA full administrative autonomy, free from political interference. The assembly should also reassess the Land Colonization Act 1912 to promote transparent and efficient use of state land in the public interest. Furthermore, the report advocates for consolidating areas under the CDA’s jurisdiction to declare Cholistan a separate district, a long-standing demand of locals for better governance.
At the federal level, the HRCP insists that the government take decisive action against illegal land occupations by state institutions, ensuring law enforcement and judicial bodies operate without fear or favor. The report also calls for an immediate end to coercive tactics allegedly employed by state agencies against activists and dissenting voices.
The Punjab government, meanwhile, must adopt a gender-sensitive approach in future land schemes to prevent discrimination against women, transgender persons, persons with disabilities, and religious minorities. It should facilitate voluntary land exchanges among beneficiaries, provided safeguards are in place to ensure fairness.
Increased resource allocation is critical for developing Cholistan’s health, education, road, and communication infrastructure. The government must also minimize arbitrary transfers of CDA officials to ensure policy continuity, publish land allotment information for transparency, and engage with the Sindh government to secure adequate water access for Cholistanis. Lastly, authorities must uphold the right to peaceful assembly and association, ensuring law enforcement does not harass residents for organizing or advocating for their rights.
These recommendations underscore the HRCP’s call for systemic reforms to end the marginalization of Cholistan’s indigenous communities and ensure their equitable access to land and resources.
The HRCP’s findings paint a grim picture of neglect and exploitation. “Cholistanis are considered ‘Indian agents’ for demanding rights,” one respondent alleged, reflecting the systemic repression faced by the community.
As corporate farming expands and indigenous voices are silenced, the report demands urgent intervention to uphold constitutional and human rights. “The state must ensure that Cholistanis are not reduced to second-class citizens in their own land,” the HRCP concludes. For now, the desert’s people wait—for water, for land, and for justice.