Asia

In this last chapter, Lal Khan looks at the future for Kashmir and the subcontinent. Bourgeois diplomacy has failed the people of Kashmir, and capitalism and fundamentalism have created disaster after disaster and offer no way out. The liberation of Kashmir and the completion of a successful revolution can only be achieved and sustained with the revolutionary overthrow of the present regimes in India and Pakistan and the establishment of a socialist federation of the subcontinent.

The regime in Pakistan is indeed a callous one. Not only did it show little concern for the hundreds of thousands hit by the quake in Kashmir and Northern Pakistan, now it wants to exploit this moment of bewilderment among the masses to speed up the process of privatization, starting with the Karachi Steel Mills. The PTUDC is mobilizing, starting with a conference of union and workers delegates this Saturday in Karachi.

We are publishing this update on the PTUDC’s Fifth Revolutionary Solidarity Caravan. The relief goods are being held by the Pakistani army and we have not yet been able to get them back. We are hoping that this situation will be resolved sometime next week. In the meantime, PTUDC supporters in India are organizing another caravan which should arrive in Pakistan next week. From there it will proceed to Kashmir.

In the first part of this chapter Lal Khan looks at the role played by religion and fundamentalism in the subcontinent. The rise of Islamic fundamentalism in Kashmir was introduced by both the Pakistani and the Indian states to divide and weaken the movement of workers and students. In the second part he looks at the national question in Kashmir, and the position of the Marxists in relation to the struggle for national liberation in Kashmir.

Many generous donations have been made to the Pakistan Earthquake Appeal that we launched immediately after the disaster hit. Thanks to these donations several camps have been set up and thousands of people have been treated and sheltered. Now the Fifth caravan has been hit by an unnatural disaster, the hands of the thieving Pakistani state! Please protest at this scandalous behaviour!

Many generous donations have been made to the Pakistan Earthquake Appeal that we launched immediately after the disaster hit. Thanks to these donations several camps have been set up and thousands of people have been treated and sheltered. Now the Fifth caravan has been hit by an unnatural disaster, the hands of the thieving Pakistani state! Please protest at this scandalous behaviour!

Lal Khan looks at the division of Kashmir as a result of the partition of the subcontinent. The resources of Kashmir have been ruthlessly exploited for the benefit of India and Pakistan. Kashmir has long been in the throes of turmoil, instability, and deprivation, and the people of Kashmir have long looked for a solution to the situation, and an end to the misery and oppression.

Lal Khan looks at the history of post-partition Kashmir and role played in this tragic history by the Indian and Pakistani ruling classes. He also analyses the roots of the wars and the insurgency that have plagued Kashmir since partition.

The partition of the subcontinent into India and Pakistan, apart from being a reactionary political act, caused one of the biggest bloodbaths in history. The memory of partition is still painful for those wounded by it. The liberation of Kashmir will not come from UN resolutions or the charity of the imperialist masters. It will come through the revolutionary struggle of the Kashmiri masses, which they have carried on with such courage and bravery for so long.

The PTUDC’s fourth revolutionary solidarity caravan entered Pakistan through the Wagah checkpoint from India on November 6. There were four large trucks on this caravan carrying relief goods including 522 large tents, 4000 blankets, 300 quilts, 500 bamboos, flour, tea, sugar and other basic necessities. This is the second caravan to arrive from India in support of the PTUDC’s relief campaign.

More than half a century after the partition of India and the end of direct British rule, Kashmir is still a festering wound. The resolution of this conflict seems to be as far away as ever. Three and a half wars and several decades of official and “track two” diplomacy have failed to resolve this traumatic issue in the Indian subcontinent.

Lal Khan analyses the history of Kashmir from Mauryan Empire, to the conquest of the valley by the Mughals, to the Afghan invasion, and finally to the rule of the British and the Dogras.  Pre-partition Kashmir was in reality a hellhole for the masses. This is the background behind which the criminal partition of the subcontinent was carried out. Fifty-eight years since partition, there has been no respite in this torment.

We have received the following report from Pakistan about the proposed privatisation of Pakistan Steel Mills. Amidst the devastation and destruction caused by last month's earthquake, the Musharraf regime is preparing to launch further attacks on the rights and conditions of the working class.