The World Sindhi Congress (WSC) hosted a critical webinar on “Forced Land Grabbing & Karoonjhar Mining in Sindh,” drawing attention to alarming trends of land seizure and environmental degradation in the Sindh province of Pakistan.

The online seminar featured a distinguished panel of speakers, including Mr. Naseer Memon, a renowned writer and environmentalist; Mr. Khalique Junejo, Chairman of the Jeay Sindh Mahaz; Prof. Inam Bhatti, a senior leader of the Sindh United Party; and several other prominent figures, including Dr. Rubina Shaikh, Chairperson of WSC and President of the UNPO.

The webinar addressed the troubling issue of forced land grabbing in Sindh, which has seen an unprecedented scale of land acquisition, particularly by the military and influential real estate developers. Notably, in 2024 alone, the military has seized 6,000 acres in Karachi’s Hawksbay area for the Defence Housing Authority (DHA), despite already having multiple DHA phases in the city. This follows a pattern of military expansion that includes hundreds of thousands of acres for cantonments and agricultural ventures.

In a significant move, the military has also forcibly vacated hundreds of acres in Sakrand, Sindh, to build a new cantonment, and acquired 52,700 acres of agricultural land for corporate farming—an action sanctioned by a caretaker government lacking the legal authority to make such decisions. The army’s plans to acquire an additional 2 million acres in the Nara taluka of Khairpur district further underscore the scale of the land grab.

The speakers also discussed the controversial Karoonjhar mining operations. The Karoonjhar mountain range, a site of immense ecological, historical, cultural, and economic importance, has been subjected to illegal mining activities, particularly in collaboration with the Frontier Works Organisation (FWO), a subsidiary of the Pakistani military. Despite multiple court decisions banning the cutting of Karoonjhar, the government is now attempting to permit excavation in Khasar, a region integral to the Karoonjhar ecosystem.

The panel warned that these activities would have severe consequences for the Sindhi population. The forced displacement of communities, destruction of centuries-old villages, and irreversible damage to rare ecosystems are just a few of the anticipated impacts. The destruction and land grabs could exacerbate existing poverty and socio-economic issues, significantly altering the demographic and cultural landscape of Sindh.

To address these challenges, the speakers called for a unified response from political parties, human rights organizations, and civil society. Dr. Rubina Shaikh concluded the webinar by emphasizing that the only sustainable solution is the right of self-determination for the Sindhi nation. According to Dr. Shaikh, all other measures would be temporary and inadequate in preventing the continued exploitation and suppression of Sindhi resources.

The webinar brought to light the urgent need for collective action to protect Sindh’s land and cultural heritage from ongoing threats.

(Image and text courtesy: Khalsavox.com)