Okara ,Punjab Pakistan is one of the best agricultural hubs of Pakistan and many small & landless farmers are among those who eke out there existence f
Okara ,Punjab Pakistan is one of the best agricultural hubs of Pakistan and many small & landless farmers are among those who eke out there existence from agriculture. Many Peasant farming families are thus living in district Okara since British colonial rule and before. It is estimated that around one millions peasants are either small or landless farmers. Of these 40 percent are Christians,
struggling to secure their land rights over 68,000 acres of agriculture land. They tilled for the last four generations since 1913. The land is located across 10 districts of the Punjab province. Women of these peasant’s families are equally involved and dependent on agriculture for their livelihoods. As such erosion of land rights affects them and their children adversely alongside the male counterparts of the families. Peasants Women Welfare Foundation is an organization of approximately 20,000/- women. These women are based in different districts in Punjab (Okara, Shaiwal, Faisalabad, Multan, Khanewal, Lahore, Sargodaha, and Pakpatten).In these districts of the Punjab landless peasants settled this uncultivated land with their hard labor and have tilled soil for over a century. It was barren land which was made cultivation land by these poor landless peasants. In other words, these peasants have cultivated the land form four generations. Through the years the peasants of these areas have voiced their concern but despite several proclamation and attempts towards land reform they have been unable to obtain ownership rights over lands that should belong to the peasants. The whole family and their children were working day and night to produce and to survive but, after a long struggle the crops were taken by the army representatives and peasants had nothing to live on. They are living in this land inhuman situation far age. In July 2000 a new piece –rate system and a yearly lease agreement was introduced. This new system and agreement represented a severe loss in the social and economic position of the peasants. In other words this system was designed to evict these peasants from their land. Given this situation the peasant women of these areas established their organization under the name Peasant Women Welfare Foundation (PWWF). The organization rapidly grew to encompass hundreds of thousands peasant women all over the Punjab. They are working in fields with their men and children to grow more food, vegetables and other crops. Due to their hard work, they could not have meal nutrition, medical and other basic facilities. Many time the women suffered from different diseases but they did not have access to medical facilities due to their low income. From last one hundred years ago the peasant’s women were not aware of their social and human rights. They didn’t know how to solve their problems. They have lack of knowledge, information and education. That’s way; they suffered lot of times, now they feel some changes with new technology and human values. They also have experience and took part in fields. They faced many difficulties and hardships during this struggle. They feel equity and encouragement and now we realized that we need to get organized to achieve our rights. We planned to organize especially peasant women to protect and develop their rights. We will also struggle against injustice and discrimination against women violence in any form. Now, we are also strengthening and encouraging women for social equity. We also organize labor women, home base women, working women and all women’s rights. PWWF wants to bring women rights revolution in our country. Due to this situation the PWWF will establish setup in province Punjab and afterward in all over Pakistan. These are some links of PWWF with other NGO’s. http://www.idapk.org/pages/network-partnership.php http://shirkatgah.org/urdu/partners/ http://gcappakistan.net/downloads/GCAP-Pakistan%20Membership%20Form%20Final_2.pdf http://pakteahouse.net/2010/07/22/punjab-anjuman-muzareen-punjab-in-okara-for-land-ownership-rhttp://www.christiansinpakistan.com/pakistani-christian-protest-against-despoliation-of-under-construction-church/ights/ http://tvstreamtimes.co/stream/anjuman-muzareen-punjab-in-pakistan https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/cmkp_pk/conversations/topics/15522 http://openfsm.net/projects/pwwf/project-home https://www.youtube.com/user/MrAmirmax https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgXHbAbEG1HnEEjNbyROiwA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shqxFVHzTPI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kIGbQzGSZQ http://www.radicalwomen.org/2010%20IWD%20Pakistan.shtml
