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. . Global and Local Analysis & Action ... http://www.egroups.com/group/Communist-Internet ] [Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ] . . ----- Original Message ----- From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Wednesday, April 17, 2002 4:48 AM Subject: [kominform2] Pakistan. Communist Workers and Peasants Party. From: Taimur Rahman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Communist Workers and Peasants Party Pakistan Comrades, please help to distribute news of our struggle in Pakistan. In solidarity Taimur Charsada (Hashtnagar) PEASANT WOMEN FIGHT BACK AGAINST THE FEUDALS BACKED BY THE STATE An Anti-Terrorist Act Case Has Been Registered Against CMKP General Secretary, Afzal Khamosh Detailed report by Syed Azeem, Punjab President, Communist Mazdoor Kissan Party During the 1970s a number of peasant struggles started in Pakistan, which were mainly organized by the Communists. The most successful and militant land-grab by the peasants took place in Hashtnangar, an area close to the Pak-Afghan border in the province of NWFP. Organized by the then Mazdoor Kissan Party (MKP), the peasants were able to liberate this area from feudal lords, who brutally oppressed the poor peasants and had the backing of the state. Since those days, Hashtnagar remains to be a liberated area despite several attempts by the feudal lords and state to eject the peasants. Under the sincere leadership of the Communist Workers Peasants Party (CMKP), the peasants remain united and steadfast. Almost 300 people have lost their lives in thirty years of conflict but the peasants are not ready to give up the lands that provide food and shelter for their families. Recently, another attempt by the feudals, in connivance with the state machinery, is in progress to forcefully evict the poor peasants from the lands of Charasada (Hashtnangar). Eager to use the so-called "War-Against-Terrorism" hysteria, the military and feudals are eyeing to not only takeover the lands of Hashtnagar (in NWFP), Okkara, Khanewal, Sargodha and Pak-pattan (in Punjab), but also to reverse many gains made by the peasant movement in Pakistan. After putting up a show of "cracking down on terrorists" to please his masters in United States, the current President of Pakistan, Pervez Musharraf, wants to use the anti-terrorism slogan to clean-up all opposition against him. The state - a nexus between the capitalists, feudals, civil and military bureaucracy - has taken action against religious extremist outfits only for the time being to appease world opinion. In actuality, it is afraid of the working-class movement in Pakistan, which has a glorious past of struggle. The Communist Workers-Peasants Party (CMKP), in the immediate aftermath of September 11, had declared its apprehensions that President Musharraf will use the pent-up war-on-terror propaganda, created and supplied by US imperialism all over the world, as a weapon against true anti-imperialist and working-class forces in Pakistan. Now that the extremist religious parties, created and organized by a joint venture of US imperialism and Pakistani establishment, are rapidly dissolving into political nonentities, the ground for the forces of left in Pakistan are wide open. Now the next enemy of US imperialism in the region are the forces that have refused to accept the new Afghan setup and also know how to fight US imperialism on scientific footings. In Afghanistan, the two Maoist organizations, that have refused to accept the puppet setup led by Hamid Karzai and threatened to fight against it, are Afghan Liberation Organization (ALO) and Revolutionary Association of Women of Afghanistan (RAWA). Their closest ally in Pakistan is the Communist Workers Peasants Party (CMKP), which has also made it clear several times that it would not let US imperialism stand in the way of obstructing the right of peoples of Pakistan and Afghanistan in choosing their own destiny. Soon enough, a new poison will be injected into Pakistan's economy in the form of "financial assistance" and "aid", not only to reward the Pakistani establishment for assisting the US-led world coalition but primarily to preserve the decaying, corrupt, exploitative, yet compliant status quo. CMKP has set the precedent, once again, to rise to the occasion against this status quo. The state and its allies have registered cases against the leaders and cadres of CMKP. Here starts a new phase of struggle at hand. As mentioned earlier, in 1970s the peasants of Hashtnagar, organized under the leadership of the then MKP, defeated the feudal lords. Now the Pakistani establishment, which is just another tool of US imperialism, is raising much hue and cry on the forced takeover of land by the peasants. CMKP was quick to realize that the anti-terrorist laws will be used against the party and the peasants. Therefore, they mobilized the peasantry in the area and instructed them not to use weapons except as a last resort. This was in contrast to the previous encounters in which guns and other ammunition have been used, and several lives have been laid down, to fight the feudals and the state. On (Tuesday) 22nd January, 2002, 3,500 personnel of police and the Frontier Constabulary attacked the village of Charasada. The peasants were unarmed, but organized. The police, on the other hand, was armed with guns, tear-gas shells, armored vehicles and jeeps. They also had tractors, which were used to damage the crops. The fight started at around 9:00 a.m. in the morning. First the tractors were used to raze the crops but the peasants fought back burnt all three tractors to ashes. The police fired in retaliation, which resulted in dozens of injuries. However, the peasants and party cadres surrounded the armored police vans and broke their glasses. After two hours of intense fighting, all the school and college students of the region also joined in the fight. They were all enthusiastic young ones of the peasants. They were all in high spirits and shouting slogans at the top of their voices: "Long live the unity of the working-class movement! Long live the revolution! We would not even surrender a tiny particle of the soil of Hashtnagar!" The battle continued for seven hours, during which on Superintendent Police (SP), two Deputy Superintendent Police (DSP) and several Station House Officers (SHOs) were injured. Here is something very interesting to note: the SP got injured after getting a severe beating from a peasant women. What has taught this seemingly docile woman of a third world country to beat up an officer of the "law" of such a high rank? Obviously it is the high level of class-consciousness and revolutionary zeal. The police was forced into a humiliating retreat. However, while retreating the police played another dastardly trick by attacking another hamlet named Singapore (surprised?..there are also hamlets with names like Japan, Germany etc.), which is located several kilometers away from Charsada. At that moment, there were no men present in Singapore as they had been busy celebrating their success in Charasada. The police thought that they stood a better chance in this hamlet. This was, again, not to be. The peasant women attacked the convoy of police and fought like a true revolutionary army. They burnt the remaining tractors and again the police had to retreat while licking its wounds. In previous encounters, women used to supply men with ammunition who were doing the main fighting. This time around it was all in reverse order. In the end, the organization of the peasant was a spectacle worth watching: women in the front ranks, children in the middle and all the men were behind. A bold peasant woman, with a burning blanket, came running behind an armored police vehicle and threw the blanket on its roof. Soon the vehicle caught fire as the policemen came out of it coughing away and gasping for breath. The men and children, meanwhile, were amusing themselves and were clapping and chanting revolutionary slogans. Thoroughly humiliated from the defeat, the police lodged an FIR, number 48/2002 dated 22/01/2002 under Sections 435/353/337 A-I, 337/F-3, 186, 189 PPC (Pakistan Penal Code) and 7 ATA (Anti-Terrorist Act) 147, 149 PPC, against 120 people, including the General Secretary of CMKP (Afzal Khamosh), Provincial President of CMKP, four Nazims and four Naib Nazims (elected representatives of Local Bodies). On the same night the police raided peasant houses in the periphery of Charsada and arrested a peasant leader called Gulab Gul. When the peasants came to know of this, they attacked and captured another police convoy and captured a few police officers. Then they went on to raid the police station where Gulab Gul was being detained and threatened to burn down the police station if their leader was not released. After negotiation the police exchanged the peasant leader for the captured policemen. Now the police have surrounded the entire region and are arresting peasants who did not even participate in the fight. Up till now 16 arrests have been made so far, 8 out of which are so old that they can not even walk properly without support. Consequently, the environment in Hashtnagar is extremely tense at the moment. This situation can, at the slightest provocation, erupt into a full-scaled armed confrontation at any time, which is likely to cause severe loss of life and property. The peasants of Hashtnagar, however, have a glorious past of resisting violence perpetrated by the feudals in connivance with the state apparatus. They will remain united and steadfast - this is for sure. On the 27th of January, the peasants held a large procession of almost 5,000 people. I assured the peasants that working-class parties would support them all over the world. I declared to them that I would take a countrywide tour to gain support for them. I conveyed to them the solidarity and unflinching support of CMKP to fight side by side with the peasants, as it has done so frequently in the past. We, therefore, request and hope that all the working-class and leftist forces of the world to give their support to the brave peasants of Hashtnagar. A new era of revolutionary change is gradually gaining in not only Pakistan but throughout the world. Yet the imperialism region has shown a firm grip on our region. The area of Charsada (Hashtnagar, Pakistan) is very close to the border with Afghanistan, where US imperialism has vital interests. Therefore, to not only preserve, but also to advance the peasant movement in Hashtnagar is of paramount importance for the anti-imperialist forces of Pakistan and the world. The peasants of Hashtnagar, under the sincere leadership of CMKP, would not give up even an inch of land because their livelihoods and the future of their children and families are dependent on this land. They are facing a do-or-die situation. They have nothing to lose, but their chains. We demand vociferously that the brutal act of forceful eviction of peasants of Hashtnagar must be stopped immediately, and the false cases registered under the Anti-Terrorism Act against Afzal Khamosh (General Secretary, CMKP), Nisar Khan (Provicial President, CMKP) and other peasant leaders must be withdrawn. We are not terrorists but revolutionaries. Long Live Revolution! Long Live Communist Workers Peasants Party Pakistan! _________________________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki Phone +358-40-7177941 Fax +358-9-7591081 http://www.kominf.pp.fi General class struggle news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Geopolitical news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] __________________________________________________ ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> Buy Stock for $4 and no minimums. 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