AWP vows to resist anymove against democracy

LAHORE: Awami Workers Party (AWP) has reiterated its support for the democratic system in the country, and warned that it will resist any extra-constitutional step that prevents the elected government from completing its tenure. 

Addressing a press conference at the Lahore Press Club, AWP president Fanoos Gujjar, general secretary Akhtar Hussain, spokesperson Farooq Tariq and vice president Abida Chaudhry resolved to resist any agenda of interference in civil affairs like foreign policy, the mainstreaming of Fata, or the economy. 

The AWP leadership on the occasion criticised mainstream parties who have remained silent or complicit in the face of growing encroachment upon civilians' space, and has called upon all progressive forces to join hands to build a genuinely democratic alternative to the present system in which all forms of oppression and exploitation are eliminated. 

They said throughout Pakistan's history, leftist forces have struggled for fundamental transformation of state and society so that all of the country's people are guaranteed basic rights irrespective of class, creed, caste, gender or religious affiliation, and a non-aligned foreign policy to resist all forms of imperialism and establish friendly relations with all its neighbours is evolved. But, they added, the progressive forces were consistently criminalised, extremist militant groups facilitated and the democratic process thwarted. 

The AWP leaders said terrorism haunts Pakistani society today with women and religious minorities being most vulnerable, the country stands isolated from its neighbours, and the political system is beset by a complete crisis of legitimacy. 

They also stated that the current political crisis confirms that the 70-year old contradictions are now becoming untenable, but no mainstream party is willing or able to decisively rise up to the challenge or detach itself from the rule of global capital and the destructive wars of imperialist forces. 

The AWP leaders warned that Pakistan's people have suffered for almost seven decades due to the state's pandering to US imperialism, and that no external alignment can itself ensure resolution of long-standing structural crises in Pakistan. In fact, only a non-aligned foreign policy privileging friendly relations with all neighbouring countries can guarantee peace and prosperity for Pakistan's long-suffering working people, oppressed nationalities, women and religious minorities. 

The AWP leadership warned that there is no 'quick-fix' to Pakistan's myriad problems. Prior to the present political stand-off facing the PML-N government, a perception had been created that CPEC will magically address all of Pakistan's problems. 

The AWP leaders pointed out that all around the world, the global capitalist system is in crisis and elitist, megalomaniac and reactionary political forces are on the rise. The global financial crisis which erupted in 2007 continues to intensify but the genuine alternative programme of progressive forces is completely overshadowed by a populist rhetoric. 

In Pakistan too, they said long-established internal contradictions are being exacerbated by regional and global developments, and right-wing populists like the PTI claiming to be a genuine alternative are only taking the desperate masses towards further crisis. 

The AWP advocates certain structural reforms that include land and agrarian reforms, revival of the parliamentary legislations of 1972 and 1977 which established ceilings on landholdings, and a halt to the practice of allotting public land to state personnel.