Land Tenure and Property Rights in Pakistan

The author’s argue that rural discontent over chronic poverty, corruption, and the failure of the government to foster development is widespread in Pakistan and that land tenure and property rights are one aspect of these problems. Post-independence Pakistan has retained a feudal system of land tenure in which an elite class of landowners owns vast holdings worked by tenant farmers and laborers who live in persistent poverty. The Taliban is building popular support based in part upon anger over unequal distribution of land and unfair owner-tenant contracts. The insurgents are thus exploiting deep resentment among landless tenants toward “wealthy landlords,” effectively “engineering a class revolt” with significant implications for the rest of Pakistan.