Leftist parties rally against air strikes in Yemen

Karachi
Many citizens participated in a demonstration organised by leftist political parties outside the Karachi Press Club on Saturday to condemn the air strikes in Yemen.
The rally was held under the banner of the Anti-War Alliance, which comprises leftist political parties including the National Students’ Federation Pakistan, Awami Jamhoori Mahaz, People’s Mazdoor Kisaan Party and International Socialists.
As a symbol to denote the widespread casualties of war, a few of the activists wore shrouds with the words “No To War” inscribed on them.
The parties maintained that the uprising in Yemen was an internal conflict and Saudi Arabia had no right to further its national interests by waging a war against the Yemenis.
The alliance, which was formed after a meeting held in one of the parties’ offices, had agreed on the stance that the ongoing war imposed on the Yemenis was the result of vested economic interests of the regional imperialist powers.
The protesters, who belonged to different walks of life, chanted slogans against Saudi Arabia, the US, and other allied forces of the war. Demanding that the Pakistani government as well as the armed forces should refrain from becoming involved in the war, they asked them to concentrate on the extremism plaguing the country.
Awami Jamhoori Mahaz Karachi secretary Hasan Ailya, while speaking at the rally, said the Saudi-led war was an attack on the sovereignty of Yemen. “Why have Saudi Arabia and its Islamic allies never launched such an attack against Israel?” he asked while lamenting the dual policies of the Islamic countries.
NSF Pakistan central organiser Khurram Ali was of the opinion that after 9/11, specifically after the US launched an attack on Iraq, the Middle Eastern monarchs had become insecure of each other leading to a massive destabilisation of the whole region.
“The destabilisation paved the way for Arab uprisings which further weakened the monarchs in the favour of the people. But, this instability has also worried the great imperialist powers like the US and its allies,” Khurram said. “Whenever the monarchs and the imperialist powers try to cut a deal in any area to neutralise the threat of a popular uprising, another uprising emerges in a different part of the Middle East. In the current scenario of Yemen, on one hand, people have Houthis allied with the Yemeni army, on the other there is al Qaeda allied with the Islamic State. Now if Saudi Arabia succeeds in defeating the Houthis, we know who would be ruling Yemen. That is why NSF believes, until the imperialist-backed puppet governments of the Middle East are not defeated, there will be no stability in the region.”
People’s Mazdoor Kisaan Party member Fahad Ali while addressing the demonstrators said: “Pakistan must stay out of this conflict. No good can come out of this if we continue to behave like mercenaries for hire. There is no threat to the territorial integrity of the Saudi kingdom. We must stay away from yet another imperialism-sponsored conflict in the region.”
Representing International Socialists, Asim Jaan said Pakistan should not align itself with Saudi Arabia over the issue as it had nothing to do with the internal conflicts of Yemen.
Citing the repercussions of its involvement in the Soviet-Afghan war, he added that if Pakistan allied with Saudi Arabia, the sectarian tension widespread in the country would take an even more violent shape consequently affecting its own stability.