Report in Dawn, January 4th, 2021
LAHORE: Participants of a conference unanimously called for uniting all left-wing parties on a single platform to bring about economic democracy for solving problems of the masses.
The Social Democratic Progressive Forum Pakistan (SDPF) and Anjuman Taraqi Pasand Pakistan jointly oragnised a conference on ‘Ba-Ikhtiar Awam and Khushal Pakistan’ on Sunday. Laal the Band performed various revolutionary songs, while a poetic symposium was also conducted.
Discussing Pakistani politics and its social implications, Comrade Tanvir Ahmad said society was moving towards backwardness. He condemned vandalism of a Hindu temple in Karak and said religious intolerance should be curbed. He also praised the efforts of Marxist leader Dr Lal Khan, adding that they were raising their voice for the rights of students, but the state was registering treason cases against them. “We cannot build a prosperous Pakistan without giving rights to the students,” he stressed.
Students representative Muzzamil Khan said Pakistan could only progress if it provided rights to all nations, minorities, labourers, students and farmers. He condemned alleged state brutalities being carried out in Balochistan, Gilgit-Baltistan and Waziristan.
Sanjh Publications owner Amjad Saleem Minhas said Pakistan was facing critical problems and state institutions were fighting among themselves. He said students and the youth would have to struggle and play a role in resolution of the problems of the country and raise their voices for the rights of the poor, students and nations living in the country.
National Party representative Yasmeen said the people of Balochistan were not given any of their basic rights and people were suffering due to class system. She said all the left-wing parties would have to join hands for a classless society where the state took the responsibility for basic rights.
Ashiq Hamdani from Kashmir said history had proved that only the left wing had raised its voice for the people of Pakistan, while the ruling class was facing crises that even had reached parliament.
SDPF President Dr Taimur Rahman said Pakistan stood at 22nd spot in the prosperous economies of the world, but people here were suffering due to lack of basic necessities. “It is astonishing that Pakistan is far behind the world if we see the Human Development Index of the country,” he added.
He said women’s rights, media freedom and other human rights were being violated in the country and only the rich were enjoying all types of freedoms. Pakistan was playing in the hands of imperialist forces and it could not prosper without coming out of such influences, he remarked.
Comrade Amar Laal said Jam Saqi and Haider Bakhsh Jatoi had suggested to PPP founder Zulfikar Ali Bhutto during the 1968 student movement to empower the masses otherwise the establishment would not allow him to rule and eventually kill him. He narrated his struggle for different projects, including education, provision of drinking water and agriculture reforms, saying the ruling class had asked him for commission, which was why these projects could not be completed.
He said the establishment’s politics was failing and it had turned the country into a security state, alleging that efforts were also being made to disintegrate Pakistan.
Mr Laal said left wing leaders should come forward to discuss and solve the problems of the people, including transport, unemployment, education, health and price hike. He also said that intellectual and political leaders of Punjab should play a role for democracy and that issues of the masses could not be resolved without raising the issues of other nationalities in Punjab.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1599479/left-wing-parties-urged-to-unite-to-solve-problems-of-masses
