DefinePK

Abstract

The core objective of the present study is to analyze the extent to which British land revenue system influences land litigation cases in Pakistan. The data were collected from senior and junior land revenue officers including Additional Commissioners, Deputy Commissioners, Assistant Commissioners, Tehsildars, Naib Tehsildars, Patwaris as well as lawyers who are actively enlisted in resolving land disputes. Based on qualitative content analysis, ten major themes that are responsible for land disputes in the historical context of the British land revenue system were identified. Some of these themes are: resistance to land reforms; complex land revenue assessments; small landholders' marginalization; inconsistent land records; conflicting land titles; the legacy of agricultural tenancy; fragmentation of land holdings; inequitable land distribution; encroachment and unauthorized occupation and impact of partition on land administration. The findings address the gap in understanding the link between colonial era land policy legacies and current land conflicts, and offer important insights for reformation of land governance systems to address long-standing disputes linked to colonial land grants along the zamindari legacy.