India and Pakistan
Anti-imperialist unity reaches across borders
By Gery Armsby
In response to mounting tensions and the specter of all-out
war between their two countries, numerous groups and thousands
of workers in India and Pakistan took to the streets June 13 to
denounce threats of war by the Vajpayee and Musharraf
governments.
Left parties, workers' organizations, women's groups and
anti-globalization forces in Pakistan and India carried out a
day of joint anti-war demonstrations throughout their
respective countries.
A protest of more than 1,000 in Lahore, the Kashmiri capital
within Pakistan's borders, was jointly called by four left
parties of Pakistan: the Communist Mazdoor Kissan Party,
National Workers Party, Labor Party of Pakistan and the Peoples
Party (Shaheed Bhutto). Several labor union federations, human
rights and community organizations, and youths also
participated.
Despite a heavy police presence, the anti-war activists took
their demands before the public at the Lahore Press Club,
chanting, "No to war," and "U.S. imperialism out of South
Asia." The Lahore demonstration demanded an immediate
withdrawal of Indian and Pakistani troops from border areas and
demilitarization of the part of Kashmir known as the Line of
Control.
Demonstrators also demanded an end to preparations for
large-scale--and potentially nuclear--war being made by both
India and Pakistan, an immediate withdrawal of all U.S. and
other imperialist forces from the region, and respect for the
right to self-determination of the Kashmiri nation.
At a rally before the international press, speakers stressed
that the policies of the U.S. government were largely to blame
for the increase in tensions between India and Pakistan. They
spoke against unprecedented nuclear proliferation in the region
and demanded cuts in military spending.
Many speakers expressed deep appreciation for Indian groups
that showed solidarity by holding similar actions in the region
and across India that day. They were optimistic that further
coordinated actions of progressive forces in India and Pakistan
would occur again in the near future.
Worker solidarity across subcontinent
After learning of the Pakistani groups' plans for a June 13
demonstration, a coalition of left groups in India coordinated
simultaneous anti-war, anti-imperialist protests in Delhi,
Chennai, Calcutta, Lucknow, Patna, Ranchi, Vijaywada and other
major cities.
The Communist Party of India (Marxist Leninist)-Liberation,
Socialist Unity Center of India, CPI (ML)-Red Flag, CPI
(ML)-Unity Initiative, CPI (ML)-New Democracy, Communist
Organization of India (ML) and the Marxist Communist Party of
India collaborated to bring out their supporters among the
Indian working class in a show of anti-imperialist solidarity
against the mounting war crisis.
More than a dozen rallies across India protested the
warmongering of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party as well as
the likelihood of increased imperialist intervention in the
subcontinent as a result of the conflict.
Six of the Indian groups issued a joint statement calling
for unity "against imperialist globalization, communalization
and Gujarat genocide, war jingoism and subservience to
imperialism, particularly U.S. imperialism." Gujarat is the
scene of a vicious police campaign against minority groups and
the poor. More than 2,000 Gujarat Muslims have been killed
since late February.
The joint statement, announcing a June 19-27 campaign of
people's actions throughout India, warns, "Though the war
threat has receded apparently under imperialist maneuvers,
[U.S. and other imperialist powers] continue to flood the
subcontinent with arms and ruin the economy of both India and
Pakistan further.
"The danger of U.S.-UK military presence in Kashmir has
increased. With the military bases of the U.S. and its allies
already in Afghanistan and Pakistan, the war moves on the
border have provided opportunity for the aggravation of
imperialist intervention in the region as part of the global
policing by the U.S."
The current phase of the conflict over Kashmir--which has
its historical roots in the colonization of the region by the
British--was ostensibly sparked by a May 14 attack against an
Indian army base in Jammu that left 30 people dead. A standoff
between India and Pakistan ensued with a grave threat of
nuclear attack that imperiled the region and alarmed the
world.
Because a war between India and Pakistan would mean major
complications for their imperialist adventure in nearby
Afghanistan, Washington and its junior partner in London moved
swiftly to control the situation.
U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage and Defense
Secretary Donald Rumsfeld held private meetings with Indian
Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Pakistani President
Pervez Musharraf in order to offer a "solution" to the conflict
that would serve imperialist aims.
Although tensions along the Line of Control appear to have
eased in the wake of the U.S. diplomatic visits, progressives
in India and Pakistan are not lulled by U.S. maneuvers in the
name of "brokering a peaceful solution" and plan to keep up
their anti-war activities.
Reprinted from the June 27, 2002, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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