AWP to continue struggle to reform system: Minto

LAHORE: Leaders of the Awami Workers Party have expressed the resolve to play a role of a people’s opposition in the coming PTI-led government and continue to build a genuine political alternative to the system of capitalist exploitation, state oppression and religious fundamentalism across the country.

AWP leaders said they would build on the momentum generated from the party’s election campaign to expand the party’s presence in districts and provinces across the country. According to a press release issued on Friday, AWP President Fanoos Gujjar congratulated the party’s candidates for bravely contesting elections against parties of the ruling elite despite a severe shortage of resources.

AWP founding President Abid Hassan Minto said that the democratic system in Pakistan continued to favour elite candidates who used their wealth and power to dominate the electoral process, while leaving little room for ordinary people to contest elections.

He said there had been a blatant show of wealth in the entire electoral process in which millions had been spent just to directly buy votes from working classes. He said the party would continue its struggle to reform this elite-focused democratic system by fighting for proportional representation in which parties would be elected based on their manifesto and share of votes.

He said the AWP had already waged a legal battle for election reforms in the Supreme Court and would continue to pursue political and legal means to create a level playing field in the electoral arena.

AWP spokesman Farooq Tariq said the party would resist any anti-people measures taken by the incoming government through building a progressive opposition of young people, workers, women and all oppressed groups in society.

AWP General Secretary Akhtar Hussain said the party would also work to unite all progressive forces in the country under the banner of the Left Democratic Front in the coming months. AWP Deputy Secretary Ismat Shahjahan said the party would immediately begin its preparations for the next local bodies elections across the country by organising the party at union council level.