Iraq Demonstration against False Handover

PRESS STATEMENT
Lahore, 30th June 2004 – A protest demonstration was organized here outside the Lahore Press Club on the occasion of the original date for the so-called “handover” of power from the United States to the “sovereign” interim government of Iraq. Students, teachers, katchi abadi dwellers, and numerous other groups decried the June 30th exercise a charade, condemning the fact that the “handover” actually took place two days early to stifle protest. The protestors asserted that the US imperial agenda continued uninterrupted as over 100,000 American troops till occupy the country and American capital continues to dominate the country’s economic “reconstruction”.

Speaking on the occasion, Communist Mazdoor Kissan Party Punjab President condemned the hypocrisy of empire, claiming to “liberate” the Iraq people and colonizing them instead. He said that the heroic resistance of the Iraqi people should inspire similar resistance in crony states such as Pakistan where the ruling class has shamelessly pursued an imperialist and dictatorial agenda despite the fact that ordinary people are completely opposed to such policies. He pointed out the criminal actions of the present government in WANA and demanded an immediate pull out of the area and a halt to the policy of supporting the US in its empire-building endeavours.

Farooq Tariq of the Labour Party Pakistan pointed out that in states such as Pakistan where the elite is willing to do the bidding of the US, direct intervention is not necessary as has happened in Afghanistan and Iraq. However, there is no fundamental difference whether capitalist expansion takes place through military intervention or through pliant elite as the end result is still the denial of the rights of ordinary people. He expressed solidarity with the millions of protestors worldwide who are challenging the legitimacy of the US occupation in Iraq, and urged this global wave of protest to extend further to truly shake the imperialist and capitalist powers to their foundation.

Aasim Sajjad of the People’s Rights Movement (PRM) asserted that it is imperative to link working class struggles to the anti-imperialist agenda. He strongly condemned the recent “change” in Pakistan’s cabinet suggesting that the antics of the ruling elite in Pakistan resemble the farcical “handover” of power in Iraq. He reiterated that without working class resistance to the imperialist and capitalist agenda worldwide, there would be no way of stopping the onslaught. In this regard, he congratulated ongoing working class movements within Pakistan for opposing the forces of imperialism and dictatorship although he lamented the powerlessness of the mainstream opposition in this regard.

Other speakers such as Zahid Anjum of the All-Pakistan Alliance for Katchi Abadis also spoke on the occasion. All present resolved to build a genuine working class movement of katchi abadi dwellers, students, workers, and the like.