Land reform in Pakistan

The land reform in Pakistan was a series of laws and policies aimed at restructuring agricultural property relations in Pakistan between independence in 1947 and the judicial reversal of major reform measures in 1989–1990. The land reform was intended to reduce concentration of landed wealth, abolish intermediary rights between the state and cultivators, improve the position of tenants, and redistribute surplus land. Its objectives were justified in terms of social justice, agricultural efficiency, state-building, and, especially after 1971, the eradication of feudalism.

Land reform developed unevenly across the country. In the eastern wing of Pakistan, the East Bengal State Acquisition and Tenancy Act 1950 moved early against the zamindari order and intermediary rent-receivers. In the western wing, the first major ceiling law was the West Pakistan Land Reforms Regulation of 1959, promulgated under Ayub Khan. A second and more radical round followed under Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in 1972, and a third in 1977 further reduced the maximum size of holdings.

In practice, the results were mixed. The eastern wing's reform substantially altered the older zamindari system, but in West Pakistan and, after 1971, in Pakistan proper, loopholes, exemptions, family transfers, weak administration, and political resistance limited redistribution. Ceiling laws were repeatedly tightened, yet large landowners often preserved influence over both land and tenants.