The marvellous national convention of the Progressive Youth Alliance was held in Lahore on 15 December, with the main demands of free education for all and restoration of student unions. Revolutionary students and unemployed youth from across the country gathered to discuss problems faced by the youth and how to organise to overcome them.

A two-day Marxist School was held in Rawalakot, Kashmir in which over one-hundred comrades participated from across Pakistan and Kashmir. Despite difficult economic conditions, long distances and sweltering heat, comrades arrived with great enthusiasm to take part in these discussions demonstrating their commitment to the ideas of Marxism. Preparatory schools were also held in various cities in which all the suggested topics were discussed in detail.

On Monday 13 August, just as Pakistan’s new parliament were taking oath after the recent elections, fourteen workers died in a coal mine near Quetta. The miners were trapped by a gas explosion inside the mine on Sunday.

On Sunday 13 May, thousands attended a public meeting of the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM)in Karachi. Along with a huge turnout by Pashtuns, ordinary men and women from Baloch, Sindhi and Mohajir nationalities also took part.

On Friday, all of the 11 Marxist activists and members of the Progressive Youth Alliance and the Red Workers’ Front, who were abducted by the Pakistani security forces last weekwere released. This is a huge victory for the solidarity campaign, which ran on the 25thand 26th of April, both in Pakistan and on an international scale.

As reported yesterday, all of our abducted comrades have now been released from custody in Karachi, following pressure from our international solidarity campaign. Leading comrade of the Red Workers' Front, Aftab Ashraf, has recorded a video statement after being released by the Rangers. We publish it here. Lal Salaam!

It has been confirmed that the last of our abducted Pakistani comrades have been released by the Rangers. We are relieved to have them back safely and grateful to all of our comrades and supporters who participated in our solidarity campaign, which was instrumental in securing the abductees. We publish the following message from the Progressive Youth Alliance, celebrating the safe return of our comrades, and the victory of our international campaign.

Today, as has already been announced, three more comrades were released from the Rangers’ headquarters Karachi, while others were released yesterday. Now three comrades, Bilawal Baloch, Mohammed Gulbaz and Umar Riaz, remain in custody and the Rangers have said they will be released tomorrow, 27 April.

The international campaign demanding the release of our comrades, who were abducted by the Rangers in Karachi on 22 April, continues to build. There have been demonstrations at Pakistani embassies all over the world, and our official petition has acquired thousands of signatories, including from some prominent figures from the political left and trade union movement. Here, we provide an update on the solidarity campaign's latest activities.

Yesterday, we had a fantastic response from comrades around the world, protesting the abductions in Pakistan. The good news is that three of our comrades were released today: Aftab Ashraf, Karim Parhar and Zain ul Abidin. However, the Rangers are refusing to release the other three comrades, who remain in custody in their headquarters in Karachi. Comrades must step up the campaign of protest for Bilawal Baloch, Umer Riaz and Mohammed Gulbaz. We demand the immediate release of all of our comrades.

Pakistan is a country of over 200m people, but at least 40 percent live in poverty. Life expectancy is low, at an average of 66 years and infant mortality is high, with about about 64.2 deaths per 1,000 live births. For a large part of the population life is a living hell. But on top of this there is also the impact of imperialist intervention in Afghanistan, the effects of which have spilled across the border, and the repressive operations of the state security forces.

Update 11:34 - we have received reports that these two comrades have now been released. Yesterday in Karachi two more supporters of the Lal Salaam group were abducted by the Rangers. They were protesting peacefully, together with other left activists and groups in front of the Karachi Press Club, against the previous abductions when there was crackdown by the military and four protesters were taken away. Later two of them were released. The two that were not released are Yasir Irshad and Shay Razai, who are presently being held by the Rangers. See this Reuters report, ...

The seven socialist activists abducted by the Rangers in Pakistan are still being held. Their whereabouts remain unknown. All possible measures are being taken to locate them. As yet, no charges have been made and the reason is that no crime has been committed. They have been abducted because of their solidarity activities with the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM): a mass movement of immense proportions of the Pashtun people, who are demanding to know where the 30,000 people who have disappeared over recent years are, whether they are being held in prison or whether they have been killed.

Today, protests were held in Lahore, Peshawar, Quetta, Rawlakot and other cities to demand the release of comrades abducted in Karachi by the army and Sindh Rangers. They were disappeared because they joined a protest in front of the Karachi Press Club that was called by the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM). Nobody has been informed of their whereabouts so far and no case has been registered against them. Their family members are experiencing extreme shock and worry, but still don’t know the location of their loved ones.

A number of prominent youth and trade union activists have been disappeared in Karachi by the Army and Sindh Rangers, a paramilitary state department notorious for extra-judicial killings. No case has been registered against them. Those remaining in custody are being held at the Rangers' headquarters in Karachi.