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Land Tenure Center Newsletter
Number 82, Fall 2001, p. 12

... from the archives ...

"'Land reform' is nothing more than 'a law on the books.' A.T. Chaudhri, editor of the Pakistan Times Press of Lahore, known to be one of the most knowledgeable and outspoken people on the subject, told me, 'If you were to bring the first Biblical characters back to some parts of Pakistan today, they would notice no change, none whatsoever.'

... But things may be changing in Pakistan. Some say that the new constitution, which went into effect on August 14, 1973, will lead to a more equal distribution of wealth. Each day the newspapers bring promises. The day I left Pakistan the lead in Dawn, a foremost Karachi daily under a Sukhur dateline (during one of the Chief of State's whirlwind trips through the country) read, 'The Prime Minister, Mr. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, declared here today that his Government would now devote all its energies towards consolidating the gains of the reforms already introduced so that the common people felt the impact of those reforms.'

"Time will tell."

Thiesenhusen, William C. 1974. "A Brief Glimpse of Rural Punjab, Pakistan's Breadbasket." LTC Newsletter July-September, pp. 1-10. Madison: Land Tenure Center, University of Wisconsin.

Copyright © 2001 by Land Tenure Center and Board of Regents, University of Wisconsin. All rights reserved.
Readers may make verbatim copies of this document for noncommercial purposes by any means, provided that this copyright notice appears on all such copies.

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Article posted 8 January 2002 by
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