------------------------- Via Workers World News Service Reprinted from the Feb. 14, 2002 issue of Workers World newspaper -------------------------
"BUSH DOCTRINE" IN PAKISTAN AIMED AT LEFT: POLICE ATTACK PEASANTS TO GRAB LAND By Leslie Feinberg On Jan. 22, some 3,500 police and constabulary laid siege to the village of Charasada in Hashtnagar, Pakistan, close to the Afghan border. The police came loaded with guns, tear- gas shells, armored vehicles, military jeeps and tractors to destroy the peasants' precious crops. The peasants were "armed" only with organization and resolve. When police tried to raze their crops, the peasants fought back with their fists and then burned all three tractors to ashes. Police fired on the unarmed field workers, reportedly resulting in dozens of injuries. As word of the intense conflict spread, students in the region left their classrooms to join the fray. The peasants, with help from workers and students, surrounded the armored police vans and smashed the glass windows. The battle lasted for seven long hours. The superintendent of police, two deputy superintendents and several officers were injured. Eyewitnesses report with pride that it was a peasant woman who dealt the superintendent his blows. The peasant women attacked the convoy of police and fought "like a true revolutionary army," writes Sved Azeem, Punjab president of the Communist Mazdoor Kissan Party. "They burnt the remaining tractors and again the police had to retreat while licking their 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 peasants was a spectacle worth watching: women in the front ranks, children in the middle and all the men were behind." One brave woman threw a burning blanket over the roof of an armored police vehicle, setting it on fire. There is a long background to this struggle. Peasants in Pakistan, backed by communist leadership, won concrete gains during the 1970s. After battling the despotic feudal lords and their armed agents, those who had tilled the land for centuries won some of it back from those who claimed title to it. They won a militant land takeover in Hashtnagar. Since that time the landlords have failed to oust them. "Almost 300 people have lost their lives in 30 years of conflict," explains Azeem of the CMKP, "but the peasants are not ready to give up the lands that provide food and shelter for their families." Why have the police attacked now? The CMKP says the landlords have been emboldened by the Pentagon's "war against terrorism" to launch a new drive to reclaim land from the peasant movement in Hashtnagar, as well as in other areas: Okkara, Khanewal, Sargodha and Pak-pattan. "Now the next enemy of U.S. imperialism in the region is the forces that have refused to accept the new Afghan setup and also know how to fight U.S. imperialism on a scientific footing," Azeem writes. "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." Azeem adds that after Sept. 11, his party "had declared its apprehensions that President Musharraf would use the pent-up war-on-terror propaganda, created and supplied by U.S. imperialism all over the world, as a weapon against true anti-imperialist and working-class forces in Pakistan. "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 U.S.-led world coalition but primarily to preserve the decaying, corrupt, exploitative, yet compliant status quo." NOTHING TO LOSE BUT THEIR CHAINS After suffering these two defeats, police lodged charges against 120 people on Jan. 22. Seven individuals were charged under the "Anti-Terrorism Act," including Afzal Khamosh, general secretary of the CMKP; Nisar Khan, provincial president of the CMKP; and other peasant leaders. The CMKP demands that all these charges be withdrawn. "We are not terrorists but revolutionaries," it asserts. Police also raided rural homes near Charsada and arrested Gulab Gul, a peasant leader, on Jan. 22. When his neighbors heard about the arrest, they attacked a police convoy and captured several police officers. Others marched on the police station where Gulab Gul was imprisoned and threatened to burn it to the ground if he was not released. The strength of the peasants' determination was so great that the police exchanged the peasant leader for their captured officers. Since then, the police have surrounded the entire region and are indiscriminately rounding up peasants. Out of 16 arrests, eight are individuals who are so old they cannot walk without support. The political climate in Hashtnagar remains extremely tense, but the peasants are unbowed. They marched in numbers close to 5,000 on Jan. 27. CMKP leaders call on progressive and revolutionary people around the world to support the courageous land reclamation struggle of the Pakistani peasants. "A new era of revolutionary change is gradually gaining, in not only Pakistan but throughout the world," Azeem concludes. "Yet imperialism has shown a firm grip on our region. The area of Charsada is very close to the border with Afghanistan, where U.S. 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." - END - (Copyright Workers World Service: Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but changing it is not allowed. For more information contact Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For subscription info send message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: http://www.workers.org) ------------------ This message is sent to you by Workers World News Service. To subscribe, E-mail to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, E-mail to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To switch to the DIGEST mode, E-mail to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Send administrative queries to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
