Fwd: [WW] India, Pakistan anti-imperialist unity [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- --- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^ This email was sent to: archive@jab.org EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.bacIlu Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^ --- Begin Message --- - Via Workers World News Service Reprinted from the June 27, 2002 issue of Workers World newspaper - 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 l
Fwd: [WW] India, Pakistan anti-imperialist unity [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- --- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^ This email was sent to: archive@jab.org EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.bacIlu Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^ --- Begin Message --- --- Begin Message --- - Via Workers World News Service Reprinted from the June 27, 2002 issue of Workers World newspaper - 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
