'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."
Reprinted from the Feb. 14, 2002, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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