New Delhi: Maryam Nawaz’s recent announcement to allot plots to 3,200 journalists in a new housing scheme in Lahore has not gone down well with Pakistanis. They are questioning the motives behind such a scheme. And they are convinced that it’s a trick to “buy journalists”, and a sheer waste of taxpayers’ money.
Moreover, the land designated for plots is contested agricultural land. Farmers claim in their petition that their lands were forcibly taken away for the riverfront project.
The Punjab Information Department and Ravi Urban Development Authority (RUDA) on Thursday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the transfer of land, paving the way for the allotment of plots. At the signing ceremony, Punjab Information Minister Azma Bokhari announced that it’s the first time in Punjab’s history that plots are being distributed to journalists, fulfilling Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz’s commitment to providing homes to Lahore’s journalists, Dawn reported.
Bokhari emphasised that the allotment would be strictly ‘merit-based’, with no recommendations or special favours accepted.
Silencing journalists with plots
The allotment move was preceded by Maryam Nawaz’s October announcement, where she said that the “media and government are two wheels of the same vehicle” and that the “housing facility was the right of the journalists.”
Pakistanis can’t look beyond the irony of the situation.
“2 days after the Islamabad massacre, Azam Bokhari reminds the media that Punjab is giving plots to 3,200 journalists based on “merit”. The message: Those who help cover the bloodshed best, will be awarded with plots”, X user @Non_graata warned. @AhtishamAkram_ wrote: “After the judiciary, it’s now ‘journalists’ turn to sell their soul,’ while @mudassarib went on to say that “Merit=being the slave of sharifs”.
At least 3,200 people can say that the country is doing well, read one X post in Urdu. “There is peace and order everywhere. No one is liked in the country except PML-N. The people of the country are with the PML-N and the Sharif family.”
Contested land
Pakistani journalist Benazir Shah reported in October this year how the new megacity development in Lahore, replete with hi-tech features and housing for 10 million people, was being done on fertile agricultural land. “Over 75%, of the land earmarked for the riverfront city is agricultural, where crops like wheat, rice, corn, and fruit are grown.”
The report further stated that the concept of the project, originally proposed by Nawaz Sharif in 2013, remained dormant. While PTI supporters derided it, the project was revived by Imran Khan in 2020.
Since then, the Punjab government has used the colonial-era Land Acquisition Act 1894 to seize land from farmers, with those resisting facing harsh consequences such as imprisonment and terrorism charges. Human Rights Watch reported in April 2023 that over 100 farmers have been criminally charged for resisting land acquisition, with evidence of intimidation, harassment, and force.
Despite ongoing legal challenges and protests from farmers, authorities have pressed forward with its riverfront city project and has so far acquired around 13 per cent of the land required for the new city—roughly 12,000 to 15,000 acres. Of this, 2,000 acres, owned by around 470 farmers, were taken under the controversial Land Acquisition Act.
One X user had a simple take on the issue: “Stealing from the poor (farmers) to give to the crony elite (journalists).”