People's Democracy

Greetings from the Communist Party of Pakistan

DEAR Comrades of the Presidium, members of Central Committee and all delegates of the Congress.

On behalf of the Central Committee, Communist Party of Pakistan, I heartily congratulate you on holding the 19th Congress of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) at Coimbatore.

During the last Indian elections, the Left Front as well as the secular parties were able to push back the Indian communal forces. The CMP of UPA was the best option in the peculiar circumstances. Millions of rural people got employment. The UPA government�s performance was highly appreciable in maintaining friendly relations with the neighbouring countries. The Indo-US nuclear agreement was affecting the national sovereignty of India. The Left Front�s and especially the CPI(M)�s perseverance is instrumental in stopping its finalisation. In these ways, the communists of India have played the role of a check valve in the bourgeois system.

The Left forces of India have made further advances in state elections through their excellent performance. The CPI(M) and the Left have secured more number of votes and seats in Bengal and Kerala. The latest success is in the state of Tripura. The CPP congratulates you for it. We hope that the Indian Left will continue to gain more successes in future, turning India into a real socialist republic in the near future.

I feel it is useful to tell all of you the state affairs in our country. Pakistan has remained under military dictatorship during the last nine years. Pakistan has become an important US ally in the so-called war against terror during this period. Military dictatorship continued to fight for US interest in the region. The Pakistan Army has adopted a dual policy of financial gains from this war. They do attack and kill some Taliban as well nourish and harbour them in the nurseries, established long ago in Pakistan. In this way the fire lit in Afghanistan has engulfed Pakistan and has now spread beyond the Waziristan Bajore Agency into Swat and other settled areas of the country. Suicide attacks have become almost daily routine. The Army was forced to take action against the Lal Masjid and Madrasa Jamia Hafsa when it was exposed to the world at large that these are the recruiting and training centres for extremism.

The military regime kept in abeyance the political process for complete eight years. The leadership of two main political parties was forced to remain in exile during the entire period. It was on March 9, 2007 when things started taking a turn. The Chief Justice of Pakistan refused to bow before the army pressure. Political process started taking shape and army and its political allies became weaker and weaker. The lawyers in Pakistan have played a very positive role in this process. The Communist Party of Pakistan remained shoulder to shoulder with the lawyers community during this struggle. As a result of this struggle, the exiled political leadership was able to return home. General Musharraf was forced to retire as Army Chief and general elections were held. There was a possibility of direct confrontation between the army and the people. The dictatorial regime tried to frighten the popular leadership through bomb blasts in political rallies. When this tactic failed to achieve the required result, the most popular leader, Benazir Bhutto, was assassinated. General elections had to be held due to mounting public pressures. Pre-poll rigging was carried at a very large scale but a massive rigging on polling day and in announcing results was not possible due to huge local and international pressure.

Opposition political parties were divided into two camps. One camp tried to sabotage the political process by boycotting the elections. This camp was led by Jamaat-i-Islami and retired General Hameed Gul, ex-DG of ISI, a symbol of religious extremism in Pakistan. The second camp was under the leadership of the People�s Party and Muslim League (N). The CPP was part of this camp which participated in this political process while the other Left, nationalist parties joined hands with APDM and boycotted the election process. Elections were held on February 18, 2008, after a lot of bloodshed. The army establishment and US embassy started to create differences between the three successful parties, so that they might not be able to form a coalition. The US ambassador�s activities were naked interference in the internal affairs of Pakistan. The CPP, along with other democratic forces, raised its voice against these interferences. The main political parties have reached a consensus on the power sharing formula. But the establishment continues to create hurdles in the transfer of power.

Our party has strengthen collaboration with other democratic forces, professional organisations and trade unions to rejuvenate the democratic system and achieve the following objectives.

1. Restoration of sacked judiciary.

2. Restoration of 1973 constitution in its original form

3. Stopping the interference of secret agencies in politics.

4. Controlling the indulgence of military and paramilitary forces in business and economic activities.

5. Cancelling all rules against trade union activities.

6. Implementation of land reforms to limit the ownership of land.

7. Stopping military operation in different areas of the country, especially in Balochistan.

8. Acceptance of the national rights of small nations.

9. Elimination of the environmental pollution.

10. Cancellation of all discriminatory rules against women and minorities and lift the ban on students unions.

We want to inform our fraternal parties that Pakistan army and its different agencies have made, for communists and socialist forces, the situation very much difficult to work in the country. Provincial secretaries and other office bearers of the CPP in the NWFP and Balochistan provinces are under continuing threat. About 30 party members and sympathisers have been murdered in this region. In Punjab also, extremist forces are very active. CPP cadres have to work on different mass fronts, where it is not possible to work openly.

The international capitalist system is once again facing a crisis of very big magnitude. The US economy is on decline. War hysteria is being created in the name of threat to national security. The so-called war against terror has been imposed with the aim of capturing new markets and natural resources of the world. The resisting countries have to face direct interference of destabilisation through separatist movements. The Greater Middle East plan has been made to achieve the US objectives in the Middle East. The Athens conference of the Communists and Workers Parties on January 5, 2008 was an important step against the US designs. The separatist forces in Pakistan, Iran and the adjoining Middle East countries are being encouraged to destabilise this region and create small states. The conspiracy to divide Yugoslavia is being repeated against the progressive, anti-imperialist and socialist countries of Latin America. The Colombian confrontation with Venezuela and the attempts to create differences between different ethnic groups of this region for fomenting separatism are parts of this conspiracy.

The religious fanaticism in itself is a very big challenge for the Left and democratic movements in the region. So we suggest and request the regional Communists and Workers Parties to work out and evolve together a joint strategy to come down on this evil menace of fundamentalism in order to ensure peace, stability and progress in the region and the world at large.

The 19th Congress of the CPI(M) is taking place in a really very crucial and difficult circumstance of expansion of imperialistic game. We hope that your Congress will be able to design a practical strategy to cope with the existing critical condition of the region. Your every accurate strategy will benefit not only India but the whole region and the world at large. And we hope that this will ensure not only the retreat of imperialism but give the light of hope for a better future for the working masses, paving way for socialism at the end.

The CPI(M) has a great responsibility in shaping the mechanism to halt the further advance of imperialism in our region. Being not only a coalition partner in the biggest democracy of the world but also a political party with a mass following puts substantial responsibility on the CPI(M) to exert maximum efforts for creating an atmosphere of understanding and coordination among the states and the communist forces of the world. In this context, the CPP had put forward a proposal for the formation of a coordination committee of Communist and Workers Parties of the SAARC countries. Most of the parties have shown an agreement with the proposal. It will be appropriate for the CPI(M) to take initiative in this direction.