A Historical Study of Land Ownership and Landed Aristocracy in Pakistan

Like other developing countries, menace of landlordism is still seeping through the very roots of this resource rich country Pakistan. This article is aimed at: (1) to explain the very basic concept of land ownership; both in religious and social context, (2) to sketch historical pattern of land acquisition as well as its exploitation for exerting social control as well as political pressure and keeping the masses economic down to earth. Through extensive analysis of historical data, researchers reveal that land ownership concept of Islam is very progressive as compared to the ones used by first Muslims of India, next by the British and third by the state as well as society across the Pakistan. While Mughals and pre-Mughal era focused on taxing masses via various modus operandi, the British colonial era witnessed the rise of political and administrative patronage to the local people in order to extract their support. Conversely, post-independence Pakistan, after going through various waves of military-landlords-politicobureaucratic oligarchy has reached to such a state that even the current political administration draws its chief share from landlords. The study suggests that for economic development and uplift of the pro-poor farming community, overcoming social and political injustice and getting rid of the clutches of landlordism is the dire needs of the time and society. The study suggests a further research on the economic, social and political effects of the land aristocracy as hinder to economic development and societal welfare.