Politically, in Sindh, the mobilisations by poor peasants had reached a critical point owing to which the Sindh Assembly of that time formulated the Roger Thomas Committee on the 3rd of March 1942 for reviewing the issues which were being faced by the peasants. The Committee consisted of Muhammad Masood Khadarposh (Collector of Nawabshah at that time), Nooruddin Siddiquee and Agha Shahi.
When the Sukkur Barrage was being constructed, the Hari Committee was led by people of a business background in Mirpurkhas
After some time, Agha Shahi parted ways with that committee and Gopichand was named secretary. The committee compiled a brief report which consisted of 298 pages. Apart from this report Masood Khadarposh wrote a 37-page note which actually consisted of adverse/contentious remarks!
The Sindh Assembly reviewed and debated the report on the 13th of March 1942. In the same meeting, Nehchal Das, Minister for Revenue at that time, stated that a committee was to be formed to investigate the issues of the peasants properly.
In very next Sindh Assembly meeting which was held in December 1942 to reviewing the Act, Khan Bahadur Muhammad Ayoob Khorro said that there is huge difference between the socio-economic conditions of Sindh and Mumbai – so the Act couldn’t be implemented in Sindh.
As the Indo-Pakistan Partition took place on the 14th of August 1947, Pakistan became an independent country. In the chaos of Partition, the most highlighted issue was of Hindu-Muslim communal tensions – due to which the law and order situation of the country plummeted. The second most important issue was the resettlement of refugees. The concerns of Sindh’s peasants were pushed to the background in such conditions.
Nevertheless, the Peasant Committees of Sindh kept insisting that the government pass the Tenancy Act.
With the independence of Pakistan, the Sindh Hari Committee kicked off its struggle by calling a meeting of its working committee, in which the members condemned the new government’s negligence. Apart from other demands, they for the first time also asked that the controversial report of Masood Khadarposh be unveiled.
‘Adh Bateyo’ Movement
Since 1940, when the Indian government passed the Peasant Act in Mumbai, Sindhi peasants had started the ‘Adh Bateyo’ Movement. Shahdadpur Taluka, Chambarr, Mirpur Khas, Hyderabad and Mehrabpur became the strongholds of that movement in the initial phase. In Chambarr and many other parts of Sindh, peasants had started collection of Adh Bateyo by holding their own public courts.
As the movement started getting momentum, it generated tussles between peasants and landlords, which soon became the daily routine in Sindh. The incident of the famous murder of Shaheed Mai Bakhtawar also occurred during the course of that movement. That particular episode drew the attention of urban people (especially the people of Karachi) towards the issues being faced by peasant communities in Sindh. By now the Sindh Hari Committee was continuously protesting for the issues and rights of peasants.
Eventually, the act was passed by the Sindh Assembly in April 1950. The elder son of Comrade Hyder Bux Jatoi, Comrade Mazhar Jatoi – who was a banker and after quitting that job he joined the Sindh Hari Committee as President – started bringing Sindhi peasants on one platform. He died of a heart attack during a meeting of a committee in Ghotki, which was established against Greater Thal Canal.
The Tenancy Act and the Sindh Assembly
After the administrative separation of Sindh from Mumbai, the role of the Sindh Hari Committee became very influential in Sindh’s parliamentary politics.
There were many cases in which ministers and politicians were ousted from their positions and it became difficult for ordinary people to submit their documents to contest polls for those empty seats in local body elections. The ruling party leadership was of a mind to restrict other contesters from submitting nomination forms for those empty seats and resorted to dirty tricks like the abduction of people before submission of documents. All of a sudden, Comrade Hyder Bux Jatoi announced his decision to submit his forms for all the empty seats in Sindh! The decision included contesting against powerful Sardar Sultan Ahmed Chandio, the son of Nawab Gebi Khan Chandio of Chandka constituency. Unluckily, due to unfairness and ambiguity in the electoral mechanism, Comrade Hyder Bux Jatoi lost that election against the son of the Nawab.
During this event, a good number of cases were reported against the election winner by media – including allegations of preventing peasants from reaching polling stations and beating them. Moreover, peasants also put forward a petition against Sardar Sultan Ahmed Chandio, claiming he was underage to compete in an election.
Meanwhile, the election tribunal had delayed its announcement of the official winner on the seat for which G. M. Syed and Qazi Muhammad Akber were competing – due to the rise of various controversies. Eventually, the election tribunal of that time disqualified Qazi Muhammad Akber and Pir Elahi Bux – who was Sindh’s Chief Minister at that time – due to proof of misconduct during elections. Yusuf Haroon was then slated to be the Chief Minister of Sindh.
But Yusuf Haroon had to be a member of the Sindh Assembly before he could become Chief Minister. And for this purpose he had to submit nomination forms for local body elections. Comrade Hyder Bux Jatoi also submitted his nomination papers against him! As the election tribunal had already disqualified Pir Elahi Bux and Qazi Muhammad Akber owning to misconduct in elections, Yusuf Haroon didn’t want to be another victim of the election tribunal. He avoided the course of his disqualified companions and held talks with Comrade Hyder Bux Jatoi before competing in elections against him.
He asked Comrade Hyder Bux Jatoi his intentions in case he won the elections Jatoi said that he would pass the Tenancy Act in the Sindh Assembly, which had already been subject to debate for a long time. Yusuf Haroon replied that it was too difficult for a single member to pass a bill in the Assembly. But, he promised Jatoi that if he were to withdraw from competing against him in the elections, Haroon would surely pass the Tenancy Act for him once elected.
And so, Yusuf Haroon won that election without competition. And it was he who then got the Tenancy Act through the Sindh Assembly.
In the context of revolutionary politics in the 20th century, it had come to be argued that the emerging business class was much more beneficial for the peasants as compared to the traditional feudal class. And so, for instance, when Sukkur Barrage was being constructed, the Hari Committee was led by people of a business background in Mirpurkhas – which included the mayor of Karachi at that time and G. M. Syed, who made his contribution for peasant rights by handing over lands to them after completion of the Sukkur Barrage.
The second example of this phenomenon was of industrialist Yusuf Haroon, who became Chief Minister of Sindh. He, as noted above, passed the Tenancy Act in the Sindh Assembly. Sindh’s feudal lords and various landlords joined hands and had opposed the Act vigorously. On other hand, the Chief Minister Sindh, Yusuf Haroon, suggested that Comrade Hyder Bux Jatoi secretly ought to collect all the peasants of Sindh in Karachi and start bringing to bear pressure on the government – Haroon’s own government! – to pass the Act.
On this call, a mighty crowd of Sindhi peasants gathered in Karachi to demand their rights. They staged a powerful protest against the Sindh government on the 2nd of April 1950 in front of the Sindh Assembly building. This movement was lead by hundreds of peasant leaders including Hyder Bux Jatoi, Abdul Qadir Khokhar, Noor Muhammad Palijo, Molvi Muhammad Muaaz, Ali Muhammad Shoro, Muhammad Osto, Ghulam Muhammad Soomro and many others.
On the 3rd of April 1950, a rally set off from the residence of Chief Minister Yusuf Haroon and ended up at Assembly Hall, where thousands of peasants from Sindh chanted anti-landlord slogans like ‘Haari Haqdaar’, ‘Zameendar Murdabad’ and ‘Jageerdar Murdabad’.
So it was that the Tenancy Act was passed in the Sindh Assembly on the 4th of April 1950, and on the 11th of May 1950, the Governor of Sindh signed the bill into law.
The writer is a freelance contributor and can be reached at abbaskhaskheli110@gmail.com