People's Democracy

  Fraternal Greetings Of The Communist Party Of Pakistan

ON behalf of the central committee of the Communist Party of Pakistan, I congratulate you on the occasion of the 18th congress of your Party. Your congress is being held at a crucial stage in the international politics as well as the politics of our region. The history of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) is the history of a very long struggle in defence of the rights of the toiling people of India. Your Party has played a very significant role in the recently concluded general elections in your country where by forging secular and progressive alliances Indian people have been able to unseat the reactionary and communal combine. It is a source of great strength to us in this region that in India, the government is crucially dependent on the Left forces. It is really to your credit that in the era of severe oppression of imperialism, the communist movement in India is gaining such strength under your leadership.

We are living in an era where imperialism seems totally unassailable and it is trampling under its feet the democratic rights of the people all over the world. Its war in Afghanistan and Iraq under the pretext of fighting terrorism has totally exposed the designs of imperialism. Your call for forging the broadest unity of the communist and progressive forces the world over is going to play a very significant role. The presence of such a large number of fraternal delegates to your Party congress is a reflection of the success of your line.

Comrades, in Pakistan, we are not a very strong force, as you are aware. Yet, in most trying of circumstances we have kept the flag of the Communist Party flying. In this context, the visit of the general secretaries of the CPI(M) and the CPI at the invitation of the Left forces in Pakistan has played a very important role. The visit has galvanised the Left in Pakistan and we hope to consolidate this sentiment.

In our sub-continent, imperialism is trying hard to initiate an arms race between India and Pakistan. It is using fundamentalism and communalism to divide people and weaken their resistance. We can foil the designs of American imperialism by forging the unity of the people in the sub-continent.

We are confident that deliberations of your Party congress will lead to strategies to advance the Left movement in the sub-continent. We are also confident that the relations between the governments of Pakistan and India will steadily improve given your influence in the present government and people-to-people relations between the two countries will be strengthened in future.