report in Dawn, November 16th, 2020
LAHORE: The unity of progressive political parties, and a wide assortment of people’s movements committed to class struggle, genuine democratic federalism, women’s emancipation, equal citizenship for followers of all faiths, and an ecologically sustainable model of development is essential to address Pakistan’s political, economic and cultural crises and transform it into a welfare state.
This was the crux of a joint declaration issued following a two-day summit of the Mazdoor Kissan Party (MKP), National Party (NP) and Awami Workers Party (AWP) held here to devise a joint strategy for political action and ultimately unification of all progressive forces on a single, broad-based party platform.
Dr Malik Baloch of NP, Yusuf Masti Khan of AWP and Taimur Rahman of MKP emphasised that the formation of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) represents a major step towards strengthening the country’s embattled democracy.
They were of the view that the extension of an anti-establishment discourse to the historically pro-establishment Punjabi heartland gives credence to the struggles of the oppressed nationalities as well as leftist political parties more generally.
Pledging to defend the 18th constitutional amendment, National Finance Commission award, and other gains made towards genuine federalism, they called for deepening the PDM narrative to centre the questions of class exploitation, women’s oppression, state-sanctioned exclusion of religious minorities, and ecological sustainability for the democratic struggle to reach its logical conclusion.
They said PIDA ordinance was a recent example of dispossessing indigenous communities, while land continues to be concentrated in the hands of feudal lords and real estate moguls.
Ethnic peripheries like Balochistan, the ex-FATA regions, Gilgit Baltistan and AJK remained deprived of political freedoms, while the dastardly practice of enforced disappearances and other forms of state repression worsened with each passing day, they lamented and called for a genuine progressive alternative to foment a broad popular front against the establishment-centric politico-economic order.
The NP, MKP and AWP vowed to build an alternative narrative around widespread land reform and redistribution of all productive assets.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1590600/progressive-parties-back-pdm-agenda
