Pakistan

“The worst monsoon-related floods in recent memory”: this is how he U.N. has described the recent calamity in Pakistan. The mighty Indus River, once the cradle of one of history’s earliest civilizations has devastated the land to which it gave birth. The irresistible force of the floods has washed away the ancient ruins that had stood there for thousands of years.

Hell on earth is the only way one can describe the situation in the flood affected areas of Pakistan. People are going hungry, children are being hit by disease, poor pregnant women are lying in the open air under the rain. In these conditions the comrades of the PTUDC are doing what they can with the meagre resources at hand to provide some relief. Please help these comrades with whatever you can!


The Pakistan Trade Union Defence Campaign (PTUDC) in Pakistan has been active all over the country in organising relief for the victims of the floods. We provide here a second photo gallery documenting some of the activities of the Revolutionary Flood Relief and Protest Campaign described in the latest report. These pictures were sent by PTUDC activists in Malakand, Dera Ghazi Khan, Rahim Yar Khan, Islamabad, Hyderabad and in Kashmir.

The PTUDC in Pakistan has been active all over the country in organising relief for the victims of the floods. In some areas, however, they have met opposition from the Pakistan Army which prefers to back fundamentalist organisations. The Pakistan state has failed abysmally to help its own people, but still finds the forces to harass genuine socialists who are merely trying to help their own brothers and sisters.

The Pakistan Trade Union Defence Campaign has launched Revolutionary Flood Relief and Protest Committees across Pakistan, especially in the intensely affected areas, to conduct an efficient and effective rescue and relief effort. Fifty seven camps of this campaign have been set up in various regions and is appealing for help.

National Marxist Youth Summer School was held from 30th July to 1st August 2010 at Abbottabad. In spite of the heavy floods and landslides due to disastrous rains, long distances and difficult economic situation, more than 100 comrades from all over the country participated in the school with a great revolutionary spirit.

On 5th July 1977 general Zia Ul Haq overthrew the government of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto in a military coup. He later proceeded to have Bhutto hanged. This year that dark day in 1977 was marked by a day of remembrance in Rawalpindi, where the speakers emphasised the need to carry out the founding socialist programme of the PPP.

A huge rally and conference was organised by the Jammu Kashmir National Student Federation (JKNSF) on June 24. Lal Khan was one of the main speakers, stressing the point that genuine self-determination for the Kashmiri people can only be achieved as part of a socialist federation of the whole of the South Asian subcontinent.

Over the weekend the Punjab People’s Student Federation (PSF) held a convention under the title “Bhuttoism—Socialism”, officially organised to mark the 57th birthday anniversary of Benazir Bhutto. The convention, representing a large number of campuses across the Punjab, elected Zohaib Butt, a Marxist and supporter of The Struggle, as its President.

On May 7 a protest broke out in Malakand over water and electricity shortages. The Army was brought in and was preparing a brutal clampdown. In the face of the wrath of the masses, led by a Marxist, Shakeel Khan, who was temporarily arrested, they had to back off and give in to all the demands of the protestors.

On May Day 2010 rallies, seminars and processions were organised by the PTUDC (Pakistan Trade Union Defence Campaign) in 52 cities across Pakistan. This shows the degree to which more and more workers, peasants and youth are looking for a revolutionary alternative to capitalism in the country. We provide reports from some of the cities and towns where comrades from the PTUDC and the BNT organised programmes in order to pay tribute to the martyrs of Chicago.