Monday, August 25, 2008

Arundhati Roy on Kashmir

Land and freedom
Kashmir is in crisis: the region's Muslims are mounting huge non-violent protests against the Indian government's rule. But, asks Arundhati Roy, what would independence for the territory mean for its people?

Arundhati Roy
The Guardian,
Friday August 22 2008

For the past 60 days or so, since about the end of June, the people of Kashmir have been free. Free in the most profound sense. They have shrugged off the terror of living their lives in the gun-sights of half a million heavily armed soldiers, in the most densely militarised zone in the world.

After 18 years of administering a military occupation, the Indian government's worst nightmare has come true. Having declared that the militant movement has been crushed, it is now faced with a non-violent mass protest, but not the kind it knows how to manage. This one is nourished by people's memory of years of repression in which tens of thousands have been killed, thousands have been "disappeared" , hundreds of thousands tortured, injured, and humiliated. That kind of rage, once it finds utterance, cannot easily be tamed, rebottled and sent back to where it came from.

A sudden twist of fate, an ill-conceived move over the transfer of 100 acres of state forest land to the Amarnath Shrine Board (which manages the annual Hindu pilgrimage to a cave deep in the Kashmir Himalayas) suddenly became the equivalent of tossing a lit match into a barrel of petrol. Until 1989 the Amarnath pilgrimage used to attract about 20,000 people who travelled to the Amarnath cave over a period of about two weeks. In 1990, when the overtly Islamist militant uprising in the valley coincided with the spread of virulent Hindu nationalism (Hindutva) in the Indian plains, the number of pilgrims began to increase exponentially. By 2008 more than 500,000 pilgrims visited the Amarnath cave, in large groups, their passage often sponsored by Indian business houses. To many people in the valley this dramatic increase in numbers was seen as an aggressive political statement by an increasingly Hindu-fundamentalis t Indian state. Rightly or wrongly, the
land transfer was viewed as the thin edge of the wedge. It triggered an apprehension that it was the beginning of an elaborate plan to build Israeli-style settlements, and change the demography of the valley.

Days of massive protest forced the valley to shut down completely. Within hours the protests spread from the cities to villages. Young stone pelters took to the streets and faced armed police who fired straight at them, killing several. For people as well as the government, it resurrected memories of the uprising in the early 90s. Throughout the weeks of protest, hartal (strikes) and police firing, while the Hindutva publicity machine charged Kashmiris with committing every kind of communal excess, the 500,000 Amarnath pilgrims completed their pilgrimage, not just unhurt, but touched by the hospitality they had been shown by local people.

Eventually, taken completely by surprise at the ferocity of the response, the government revoked the land transfer. But by then the land-transfer had become what Syed Ali Shah Geelani, the most senior and also the most overtly Islamist separatist leader, called a "non-issue".

Massive protests against the revocation erupted in Jammu. There, too, the issue snowballed into something much bigger. Hindus began to raise issues of neglect and discrimination by the Indian state. (For some odd reason they blamed Kashmiris for that neglect.) The protests led to the blockading of the Jammu-Srinagar highway, the only functional road-link between Kashmir and India. Truckloads of perishable fresh fruit and valley produce began to rot.

The blockade demonstrated in no uncertain terms to people in Kashmir that they lived on sufferance, and that if they didn't behave themselves they could be put under siege, starved, deprived of essential commodities and medical supplies.
To expect matters to end there was of course absurd. Hadn't anybody noticed that in Kashmir even minor protests about civic issues like water and electricity inevitably turned into demands for azadi, freedom? To threaten them with mass starvation amounted to committing political suicide.

Not surprisingly, the voice that the government of India has tried so hard to silence in Kashmir has massed into a deafening roar. Raised in a playground of army camps, checkpoints, and bunkers, with screams from torture chambers for a soundtrack, the young generation has suddenly discovered the power of mass protest, and above all, the dignity of being able to straighten their shoulders and speak for themselves, represent themselves. For them it is nothing short of an epiphany. Not even the fear of death seems to hold them back. And once that fear has gone, of what use is the largest or second largest army in the world?

There have been mass rallies in the past, but none in recent memory that have been so sustained and widespread. The mainstream political parties of Kashmir - National Conference and People's Democratic party - appear dutifully for debates in New Delhi's TV studios, but can't muster the courage to appear on the streets of Kashmir. The armed militants who, through the worst years of repression were seen as the only ones carrying the torch of azadi forward, if they are around at all, seem content to take a back seat and let people do the fighting for a change.

The separatist leaders who do appear and speak at the rallies are not leaders so much as followers, being guided by the phenomenal spontaneous energy of a caged, enraged people that has exploded on Kashmir's streets. Day after day, hundreds of thousands of people swarm around places that hold terrible memories for them. They demolish bunkers, break through cordons of concertina wire and stare straight down the barrels of soldiers' machine guns, saying what very few in India want to hear. Hum Kya Chahtey? Azadi! (We want freedom.) And, it has to be said, in equal numbers and with equal intensity: Jeevey jeevey Pakistan. (Long live Pakistan.)
That sound reverberates through the valley like the drumbeat of steady rain on a tin roof, like the roll of thunder during an electric storm.

On August 15, India's independence day, Lal Chowk, the nerve centre of Srinagar, was taken over by thousands of people who hoisted the Pakistani flag and wished each other "happy belated independence day" (Pakistan celebrates independence on August 14) and "happy slavery day". Humour obviously, has survived India's many torture centres and Abu Ghraibs in Kashmir.

On August 16 more than 300,000 people marched to Pampore, to the village of the Hurriyat leader, Sheikh Abdul Aziz, who was shot down in cold blood five days earlier.

On the night of August 17 the police sealed the city. Streets were barricaded, thousands of armed police manned the barriers. The roads leading into Srinagar were blocked. On the morning of August 18, people began pouring into Srinagar from villages and towns across the valley. In trucks, tempos, jeeps, buses and on foot. Once again, barriers were broken and people reclaimed their city. The police were faced with a choice of either stepping aside or executing a massacre. They stepped aside. Not a single bullet was fired.

The city floated on a sea of smiles. There was ecstasy in the air. Everyone had a banner; houseboat owners, traders, students, lawyers, doctors. One said: "We are all prisoners, set us free." Another said: "Democracy without freedom is demon-crazy. " Demon-crazy. That was a good one. Perhaps he was referring to the insanity that permits the world's largest democracy to administer the world's largest military occupation and continue to call itself a democracy.

There was a green flag on every lamp post, every roof, every bus stop and on the top of chinar trees. A big one fluttered outside the All India Radio building. Road signs were painted over. Rawalpindi they said. Or simply Pakistan. It would be a mistake to assume that the public expression of affection for Pakistan automatically translates into a desire to accede to Pakistan. Some of it has to do with gratitude for the support - cynical or otherwise - for what Kashmiris see as their freedom struggle, and the Indian state sees as a terrorist campaign. It also has to do with mischief. With saying and doing what galls India most of all. (It's easy to scoff at the idea of a "freedom struggle" that wishes to distance itself from a country that is supposed to be a democracy and align itself with another that has, for the most part been ruled by military dictators. A country whose army has committed genocide in what is now Bangladesh. A country that is even now
being torn apart by its own ethnic war. These are important questions, but right now perhaps it's more useful to wonder what this so-called democracy did in Kashmir to make people hate it so?)

Everywhere there were Pakistani flags, everywhere the cry Pakistan se rishta kya? La illaha illallah. (What is our bond with Pakistan? There is no god but Allah.) Azadi ka matlab kya? La illaha illallah. (What does freedom mean? There is no god but Allah.)

For somebody like myself, who is not Muslim, that interpretation of freedom is hard - if not impossible - to understand. I asked a young woman whether freedom for Kashmir would not mean less freedom for her, as a woman. She shrugged and said "What kind of freedom do we have now? The freedom to be raped by Indian soldiers?" Her reply silenced me.

Surrounded by a sea of green flags, it was impossible to doubt or ignore the deeply Islamic fervour of the uprising taking place around me. It was equally impossible to label it a vicious, terrorist jihad. For Kashmiris it was a catharsis. A historical moment in a long and complicated struggle for freedom with all the imperfections, cruelties and confusions that freedom struggles have. This one cannot by any means call itself pristine, and will always be stigmatised by, and will some day, I hope, have to account for, among other things, the brutal killings of Kashmiri Pandits in the early years of the uprising, culminating in the exodus of almost the entire Hindu community from the Kashmir valley.

As the crowd continued to swell I listened carefully to the slogans, because rhetoric often holds the key to all kinds of understanding. There were plenty of insults and humiliation for India: Ay jabiron ay zalimon, Kashmir hamara chhod do (Oh oppressors, Oh wicked ones, Get out of our Kashmir.) The slogan that cut through me like a knife and clean broke my heart was this one: Nanga bhookha Hindustan, jaan se pyaara Pakistan. (Naked, starving India, More precious than life itself - Pakistan.)

Why was it so galling, so painful to listen to this? I tried to work it out and settled on three reasons. First, because we all know that the first part of the slogan is the embarrassing and unadorned truth about India, the emerging superpower. Second, because all Indians who are not nanga or bhooka are and have been complicit in complex and historical ways with the elaborate cultural and economic systems that make Indian society so cruel, so vulgarly unequal. And third, because it was painful to listen to people who have suffered so much themselves mock others who suffer, in different ways, but no less intensely, under the same oppressor. In that slogan I saw the seeds of how easily victims can become perpetrators.

Syed Ali Shah Geelani began his address with a recitation from the Qur'an. He then said what he has said before, on hundreds of occasions. The only way for the struggle to succeed, he said, was to turn to the Qur'an for guidance. He said Islam would guide the struggle and that it was a complete social and moral code that would govern the people of a free Kashmir. He said Pakistan had been created as the home of Islam, and that that goal should never be subverted. He said just as Pakistan belonged to Kashmir, Kashmir belonged to Pakistan. He said minority communities would have full rights and their places of worship would be safe. Each point he made was applauded.

I imagined myself standing in the heart of a Hindu nationalist rally being addressed by the Bharatiya Janata party's (BJP) LK Advani. Replace the word Islam with the word Hindutva, replace the word Pakistan with Hindustan, replace the green flags with saffron ones and we would have the BJP's nightmare vision of an ideal India.
Is that what we should accept as our future? Monolithic religious states handing down a complete social and moral code, "a complete way of life"? Millions of us in India reject the Hindutva project. Our rejection springs from love, from passion, from a kind of idealism, from having enormous emotional stakes in the society in which we live. What our neighbours do, how they choose to handle their affairs does not affect our argument, it only strengthens it.

Arguments that spring from love are also fraught with danger. It is for the people of Kashmir to agree or disagree with the Islamist project (which is as contested, in equally complex ways, all over the world by Muslims, as Hindutva is contested by Hindus). Perhaps now that the threat of violence has receded and there is some space in which to debate views and air ideas, it is time for those who are part of the struggle to outline a vision for what kind of society they are fighting for. Perhaps it is time to offer people something more than martyrs, slogans and vague generalisations. Those who wish to turn to the Qur'an for guidance will no doubt find guidance there. But what of those who do not wish to do that, or for whom the Qur'an does not make place? Do the Hindus of Jammu and other minorities also have the right to self-determination? Will the hundreds of thousands of Kashmiri Pandits living in exile, many of them in terrible poverty, have the
right to return? Will they be paid reparations for the terrible losses they have suffered? Or will a free Kashmir do to its minorities what India has done to Kashmiris for 61 years? What will happen to homosexuals and adulterers and blasphemers? What of thieves and lafangas and writers who do not agree with the "complete social and moral code"? Will we be put to death as we are in Saudi Arabia? Will the cycle of death, repression and bloodshed continue? History offers many models for Kashmir's thinkers and intellectuals and politicians to study. What will the Kashmir of their dreams look like? Algeria? Iran? South Africa? Switzerland? Pakistan?

At a crucial time like this, few things are more important than dreams. A lazy utopia and a flawed sense of justice will have consequences that do not bear thinking about. This is not the time for intellectual sloth or a reluctance to assess a situation clearly and honestly.

Already the spectre of partition has reared its head. Hindutva networks are alive with rumours about Hindus in the valley being attacked and forced to flee. In response, phone calls from Jammu reported that an armed Hindu militia was threatening a massacre and that Muslims from the two Hindu majority districts were preparing to flee. Memories of the bloodbath that ensued and claimed the lives of more than a million people when India and Pakistan were partitioned have come flooding back. That nightmare will haunt all of us forever.
However, none of these fears of what the future holds can justify the continued military occupation of a nation and a people. No more than the old colonial argument about how the natives were not ready for freedom justified the colonial project.
Of course there are many ways for the Indian state to continue to hold on to Kashmir. It could do what it does best. Wait. And hope the people's energy will dissipate in the absence of a concrete plan. It could try and fracture the fragile coalition that is emerging. It could extinguish this non-violent uprising and re-invite armed militancy. It could increase the number of troops from half a million to a whole million. A few strategic massacres, a couple of targeted assassinations, some disappearances and a massive round of arrests should do the trick for a few more years.

The unimaginable sums of public money that are needed to keep the military occupation of Kashmir going is money that ought by right to be spent on schools and hospitals and food for an impoverished, malnutritioned population in India. What kind of government can possibly believe that it has the right to spend it on more weapons, more concertina wire and more prisons in Kashmir?
The Indian military occupation of Kashmir makes monsters of us all. It allows Hindu chauvinists to target and victimise Muslims in India by holding them hostage to the freedom struggle being waged by Muslims in Kashmir.
India needs azadi from Kashmir just as much as - if not more than - Kashmir needs azadi from India.

Arundhati Roy, 2008. A longer version of this article will be available tomorrow at outlookindia. com.

First-ever home-based women workers union launched in Pakistan

First-ever home-based women workers union launched in Pakistan

By Bushra Khaliq:

The first ever women union, Home-Based Aurat Workers Union Pakistan” (HBAWUP) was launched here at national congress held in Lahore on August 22, 2008. The congress was jointly organized by Women Workers Helpline, Labor Education Foundation and Action Aid Pakistan.

Over 600 home-based women workers representatives from Punjab, Balochistan, Sindh, NWFP and Azad Kashmir participated in the congress. Speaking at the congress the women workers narrated stories of their pathetic working conditions. They expressed hope that the union would help resolve their problems. The congress elected 31-member national committee and 11-member executive committee.

The newly elected office-bearers of the union include; Shahnaz Begum as president, Rozeena Saif as chairwoman, Jameela Baloch as general secretary, Fauzia Imran as information secretary, Shahida Shafeeq as finance secretary and Humaira Qureshi as joint secretary.

A grand women workers rally was followed by this congress. The rally started from congress venue at David Road to Shimla Pahari, Lahore Press Club. The participants were carrying banners and placards. In festive mood they were also chanting slogans in favor of their demands. The rally participants halted for some time in front of Press club to communicate their enthusiasm to media people.

In the afternoon a musical program was organized for the entertainment of the participants. They congratulated and hug each other on the formation of the union. The contentment of being unionized for striving towards achieving their rights & defeating the‘Power of Exploiter” was very much evident from their faces, expressions & actions.

Today, they laughed together, danced together and showed their power in their unionization, as it was THEIR DAY, the day that will surface the right path for them to achieve their goal. They sang songs and danced to the tune of music to celebrate their unity.

Next day on 23 August the union office-bearers held a press conference at Lahore Press club. They told the media that legal recognition should be given to home-based workers across the country and they should also be provided with facility of social security besides granting pension and stipends to their children.

The government should also apply rule of minimum wages level for these workers and ratify ILO Convention 177. Labour laws should also be applied on these workers, they demanded.

They asked for elimination of discriminatory laws against women. They were confident that the union would serve as a national-level platform for over 10 million home-based working women of Pakistan.

It may be mentioned that Pakistan is one of those countries where a large number of women are engaged in home-based work due to poverty and to supplement family income. Over 10 million women workers in Pakistan are engaged in Home-Based Work in sectors like garment, bangle making, shoe stitching, embroidery, carpet weaving, dry fruit picking, jewelry, leather products, steel scissors, mobile covers and prawn shelling.

Though their contribution to economy is 60 percent still they are the most unprivileged part of the society. Their incomes ranged between Rs 10 to Rs 50 (less than one dollar) a day despite the fact that they worked between 12 to 16 hours. They have no social and legal recognition of their work. Working in isolation, they have no rights as workers by law. Long working hours, poor working conditions and family pressure badly affect their health. (Ends)

************ ********* **

Bushra Khaliq
General Secretary
Women Workers Help Line
25/A Davis Road,Lahore, Pakistan.
Ph: 092-42-6363915
fax: 092-42-6363944
E-mail: wwhlpk@yahoo. com

Friday, August 22, 2008

LPP on Musharaf's resignation

A dictator gone but not his policies

By: Farooq Tariq

Thousands across Pakistan celebrated the humiliated departure of dictator Musharaf on 18 August 2008. As he announced his resignation in an unscheduled nationally televised speech of one hour, private television channels showed instant response in all four provinces of jubilation and welcoming the decision. General retired Musharaf resigned as president of Pakistan as he was facing an impeachment move by the Pakistan Peoples Party led ruling alliance of four parties.

For the first time, any political party did not defend General Musharaf after the announcement of the move by the ruling alliance. He was very isolated in political field. Even Mutihida Qaumi Party (MQM) was not ready to defend him publicly, a party that he was associated for long time. All the four provincial assemblies had passed resolutions asking Musharaf to take a fresh vote of confidence from this electoral college of the presidency. Sind and Baluchistan voted unanimously while in Punjab, over 90 and in North West Frontier Province (NWFP) over 98 percent voted against Musharaf.

Such was the revulsion against Musharaf among the masses that many of those who were hand picked politician of General Musharaf decided to abstain from the votes. The resolutions in all four provinces brought the extreme weak social base of the dictator Musharaf supported by nearly nine years by American imperialism.

There were at least four occasions during the last one year alone when general Musharaf would have lost power.

General Musharaf must thanks to PPP leadership to provide him nearly eight more months in power after the assassination of Benazir Bhutto on 27 December 2007. He could have lost the power, if PP leadership had decided to demand an immediate resignation of Musharaf. For five days after the assassination, Pakistan was under siege by the masses. Unfortunately, PPP leadership decided to take part in the general elections.

Earlier, after the restoration of the chief justice of Supreme Court of Pakistan on 20 July 2007, the top judges were indecisive about the fate of general Musharaf and allowed him to contest the election of president in uniform. He was “elected” president for the second time from a parliament, which was elected for five years only. A parliament elected for five year elected the president for ten years. However, the hesitation of the top judges to stop him doing that when challenged in Supreme Court of Pakistan provided him another chance to remain in power. He used the dictatorial powers on 3 November 2007 to suspend all those top judges before the final decision of the Supreme Court.

The outcome of the general elections on 18 February 2008 was totally against general Musharaf. Instead of asking resignation of general Musharaf after the elections, however, the PPP opted to work with him. This gave General Musharaf another chance to remain in power.

The PPP leadership did not restore the top judges within a month of coming into power as was promised. The restoration of top judges would have given the judges a chance to decide on the hearing of some petitions challenging the election of the president Musharaf. Hence, a fourth time was lost.

After implementing highly unpopular economic policies, the PP leadership lost popularity at a historic fast speed. Had they not taken a decision to remove Musharaf, General could have decided to remove the PPP led coalition government. PPP took this popular decision to reverse the gear of unpopularity. This paid off for the time being.

While general Musharaf had the dictatorial powers to remove the parliament at any time, he had lost the social basis for that. He was more unpopular than the leadership of PPP.

The departure of general Musharaf is one of the very good news that was heard after long time in Pakistan. It was defeat of the military generals. A major set back for those political trends always seeking refuge from the military generals. It was very welcome news.

General Musharaf lost the power as the direct result of the mass revulsion against him during the last one half year in particular.

There have been many important struggles against the military rule during the last nine years of general Musharaf. The peasant struggle for land rights at Okara Military Farms during 2001-2005 set the tone of the mood among the most exploited strata of the society. The 10 days national strike by the telecommunication workers against privatization in June 2005 was another manifestation of workers consciousness against the military dictatorship. The successful revolt of the Sindh masse against the building of controversial Kala Bagh Dam, the three days general strike by Sindh and Baluchistan province against the killings of Nawab Akbar Bhugti were the two other important events of struggle. However, these revolts did not have the national character and remained isolated in one or other part of Pakistan.

It was the militant lawyer’s movement after the removal of Chief Justice of Supreme Court of Pakistan on 9 March that was mainly responsible for the departure of the dictatorship. The 80,000 strong lawyer’s movement showed a tremendous energy to continue for over one and half year consistently. The young lawyers played a decisive role in this important movement.

The PPP led coalition government has earned a good respect by this move. However, Musharaf should not leave Pakistan unaccounted. A fare well guard of honor for a dictator even after his resignation showed some glimpse what been agreed under hand. It seems that the dictator Musharaf be offered a safe passage and luxurious retired life after his resignation.

The tradition of a safe passage for the military rulers after the departure from power has to be changed. A very popular demand has been to arrest Musharaf to face charges of murder and other crimes. General Musharaf must be arrested. “Military out of politics” must be the main slogan for future. 32 years out of 62 years of independence of Pakistan have been under the direct military rule. However, no military general yet been tried for the crime of breaking the constitution. The strong social movement in Pakistan at present would not be silenced and satisfied only by the departure of e a military dictator.

After the departure of General Musharaf, a new wave of class struggle will explode in Pakistan. The PPP government would have no excuse of not solving the main question of price hike. The implementation of neo liberal agenda will be challenged by all section of the working class. The PPP led coalition has no other economic plan accept to go the Musharaf way. They want to privatize the remaining public sector institutions. They want to remain partners with the American imperialism in their so-called war on terror. They want to do things that Musharaf could not do openly. They capitalist feudal led coalition government of PPP and PMLN will miserably fail in solving any of the basic problems of the masses.

The coalition honeymoon after the departure of Musharaf dictatorship will last very long. Mian Nawaz Sharif economic policies are no different from the PPP. Anyhow, the strong open support for the judges and for the accountability of the dictator has earned more respect for PMLN than PPP.

PPP have taken back some of the lost ground but not for long. The implementation of neo liberal agenda will clear some of the dust from the face of PPP. An extreme right wing party of the rich cannot base itself on the past reform agenda for long time. The restoration of judges, if done as promised will earn them some more respect. However, that will also be tested in the economic field by the masses. All the measures against the dictatorship are been welcomed by the masses in hope that it will help to end their miserable life. The expectations from the coalition government are much higher now than the past. However, none of this will be met with success. The masses will once again be on the move, this time not on political issues but on economic issues.

A new era of class struggle will be a challenge for the forces of the Left and social movements. The religious fundamentalist forces are in the field. Most of them have been seen wrongly as anti imperialist forces. They are also in the field to enhance their political bases. However, they have no solution the problems facing the masses. The Left forces have to fight against the pro imperialist forces and those who are wrongly seen as anti imperialists. It is a difficult objective condition for the forces of the Left, however, what other options are for the Left apart from fighting back.

A dictator gone but not his policies. That is a real challenge that Labour Party Pakistan and other Left forces are facing at present.

Farooq Tariq
spokesperson Labour Party Pakistan 40-Abbot Road Lahore, Pakistan Tel: 92 42 6315162 Fax: 92 42 6271149 Mobile: 92 300 8411945
labour_party@ yahoo.com www.laborpakistan. org www.jeddojuhd. com

Is Malalai Joya the Bravest Woman in Afghanistan?

http://counterpunch .org/sulehria081 82008.html

Is Malalai Joya the Bravest Woman in Afghanistan?
An Afghan Woman Who Stands Up to the Warlords

By FAROOQ SULEHRIA

Afghanistan lives in the fear of the US-sponsored war lords. These hated warlords are not scared by the Taliban-monster raising its head in the south. Ironically, they live in the fear of an unarmed girl in her late twenties: Malalai Joya. To silence Joya´s defiant voice, war lords dominating national parliament, suspended Joy´s membership for three years in 2007. Earlier, at almost every parliamentary session she attended, she had her hair pulled or physically attacked and called names (`whore´). `They even threatened me in the parliament with rape´, she says. But she neither toned down her criticism of war lords (`they must be tried´) nor US occupation (`war on terror´ is a mockery). Understandably, she´s been declared the `bravest woman in Afghanistan´ and even compared with Aung Sun Suu Kyi.

A household name in Afghanistan (`Most famous woman in Afghanistan´, according to BBC), Joya shot to fame back in 2003 at the Loya Jirga convened to ratify Afghanistan´s new constitution. Unlike US-sponsored clean-shaven fundamentalists, Joya was not nominated but elected by the people of Farah province to represent them. She stunned the Loya Jirga and journalists present on the occasion, when she unleashed a three-minute vitriolic speech exposing the crimes of warlords dominating that Loya Jirga. Grey-bearded Sibghatullah Mojadadi, chairing the Loya Jirga, called her an `infidel´ and a `communist´. Other beards present on the occasion also shouted at her. But before she was silenced by an angry mob of war lords around, she had electrified Afghanistan with her courageous speech.

During the course of these three fateful minutes, the course of Joya´s life was also changed. In her native province of Farah, locals wanted her to represent them in elections. It takes guns and dollars to contest an election in Afghan electoral-battlefie lds. Joya had none. But she could not turn down hundreds of supporters daily paying her visits, urging her to stand. She decided to run for Wolesi Jirga (lower house of national parliament). Danish film maker Eva Mulvad, immortalised Joya´s courageous election campaign and subsequent victory, in her `Enemies of Happiness´ .

I happened to meet Joya in January unexpectedly at a dinner when she reached Peshawar (Pakistan) on her way to Canada. Since her passport has been confiscated and she is on Exit Control List, she had travelled to Pakistan in disguise. Politely refusing my request for an interview on the plea that she got to catch a flight early next morning, she promised to catch up with me in Kabul later in March.

Three months later, we met again in Kabul. As an MP, Joya was entitled to rent a villa in a posh neighbourhood designated to MPs. However, plagued with life threats, Joya hardly visits it. Her comrades discreetly pointed to the villa when we were driving past this neighborhood on our way to an underground home Joya sometimes uses to meet visitors. In an interview, interspersed by a delicious Afghan dinner, and post-dinner chat, this brave woman shared her hopes and fears with Arbetaren. Here are the excerpts.

Have you gone to court against your suspension. Did you contact Karzai against your suspension?

Joya: Here in Afghanistan, we have a mafia running the system. It is the same war lords in the parliament who head the courts. These Northern Alliance warlords dispense justice. I was suspended because I termed Afghan parliament as a stable full of animals. Though I think animals are useful. The warlords want me to apologize for this comment. I refuse to apologize for telling the truth aloud. I don´t see a chance in a court dominated by warlords to do me justice. However, another reason was, for the fear of personal security, no advocate was ready to plead my case. Now a lawyer has agreed to plead my case and I would move the court. (She went to court in April). However, I would tell the court that not me but war lords be brought in the dock.

As far as Hamid Karzai is concerned, he has been shamelessly silent on my suspension by an undemocratic parliament. I never contacted him. He should have contacted me. On the other hand, there were demonstrations across Afghanistan against my suspension. Karzai´s police proved good only at breaking up these demonstrations. But also what Karzai could have done? He is ridiculed by the people of Afghanistan as mayor of Kabul since his control does not extend beyond Kabul.

How come than Karzai is in power and how come you keep declaring Afghan parliament as undemocratic when it has been elected in general elections?

Joya: Well, this is a parliament in which 80 per cent of the members are warlords or drug lords. They either snatched their places in parliament at gun point or bought these seats off with US dollars. In some cases, both guns and dollars played a role. Even Human Rights Watch has accused some leading members of this parliament of war crimes. But this parliament, in a unique move, granted warlords an amnesty against crimes committed during the war. Even Mulla Umar can benefit after this amnesty.

Karzai, who was voted in as a lesser evil, has been co-operating with these criminals all the time. Hence, no wonder if he is unpopular today. But he is sustained in the presidential palace by USA and all the warlords co-operate with the USA:

By the way, one hears more about Karzai´s brother in Kabul than Karzai himself. Every other posh real estate project or every second case of corruption is attributed to the younger Karzai. He is also named when it comes to drug peddling?

Joya: Corruption and drug trafficking have become a big issues. In my view, security is the biggest issue. After that it is corruption. The so-called international community which in fact is US government and its allies, has sent a lot of money. This amount was enough to build two instead of one Afghanistan. But even Karzai himself confesses that the money has ended up in the pockets of ministers, bureaucrats and member parliaments. On the other hand, one hears about a mother in Heart selling her daughter for ten dollars. And not merely the brother of Karzai is a drug lord, foreign troops have been allegedly involved.

Really? Any proof? Press reports?

Joya: Yes some press reports have pointed that out. For instance, Russian state TV has hinted at US troops involvement in drug trafficking. That was reported in the press here. But this is like an open secret. Karzai in one of his speeches last year said that it was not only Afghans who are involved in drug trafficking. He hinted at foreign connections. Though he did not name any country or troops but people in Afghanistan understood what he meant. Now Afghan drugs are finding their way to New York and European capitals. Hence, no wonder today Afghanistan is producing 90 per cent of world opium. This is taking its toll on women. Now we hear about `opium brides´. When harvests fail, peasants are not able to pay back loans to drug lords; they `marry´ their daughters off to warlords instead.

Why is the USA letting all this happen?

Joya: The USA wants the things as they are.The status quo. A bleeding, suffering Afghanistan is a good excuse to prolong its stay. Now they are even embracing the Taliban. Recently, in Musa Qila, a Taliban commander Mulla Salam was appointed as governor by Karzai. The USA has no problem with the Taliban so long as it´s `our Taliban´.

Not merely Karzai, but also all these war lords have been sustained in power by the USA. That is why, when there are demonstrations against war lords, there are also demonstrations against foreign troops. People here believe that the warlords are cushioned by the US troops. If the USA leaves, the warlords will loose power because they have no base among our people. The people of Afghanistan will deal with these warlords once US troops leave Afghanistan.

Don´t you think security situation will get even worse once troops pack off?

Joya: Maybe. But tell the people in Sweden that Swedish troops are helping implement US agenda in Afghanistan. The democracy-loving people of Sweden should rather support democratic forces in Afghanistan and instead of sending soldiers; Sweden should send doctors, nurses, teachers and build schools and hospitals.

Saturday, August 9, 2008

'Comrade' Zardari

''Comrade" Zardari

Farooq Sulehria

This is an age of fantastic nonsense. At least, when it comes to politics. By twice electing George Bush as its president, the USA was an unchallenged master, until recently, in the arena of political foolishness.

The USA now stands outmanoeuvred by Socialist International that elected Asif Ali Zardari as its vice-president during its XXIII Congress, (30 June-02 July), held at Athens. Though Zardari's elevation as Socialist International vice-president was hopelessly surprising yet even surprising is Zardari's flirtation with socialism.

After seizing the leadership of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), he stunned many when he was seen hosting a Socialist International Asia-Pacific meeting in Islamabad on May 30. It was stunning not merely because any left-turn by PPP is impossible. It is surprising since any such turn under Asif Ali Zardari is absurdly unlikely.

Gone are the days when PPP, founded by charismatic Zulfiqar Ali Bhotto, upheld the principals:

Islam is our Faith
Democracy is our politics
Socialism is our Economy
All Power to the People

On coming to power, the first PPP government, headed by Zulfiqar Ali Bhotto, went for nationalization in three phases. In January 1972 and January 1974, banks, petroleum companies and shipping companies, oil refineries besides industries in iron, steel, engineering, chemicals, petrochemicals, cement and public utilities were nationalized.

On July 1, 1976 in yet another drive to nationalize the industry, the government nationalized 2815 cotton, ginning and rice husking units.

Similarly, in 1972 and 1977, land reforms were introduced. 2,826,4000 acres were appropriated. True, the land reforms proved half-hearted and nationalization degenerated into bureaucratisation. However, the first PPP government remains the only administration that introduced reforms benefiting working classes. This, however, does not in any sense make Ali Bhutto's government a socialist one.

On the contrary, the 'socialist measures' by a Bonapartist Bhutto government were aimed at pacifying the charged up working classes while keeping feudalism and capitalism in tact.
He himself candidly dispelled any illusion, on winning 1970 general elections, about his being a socialist. When asked if he received any monetary help from China to contest elections, he stated: ''The most angry people in Pakistan today are the communists for they know I have stopped the tide of communism by introducing Islamic socialism in this country..... ..In fact I have done more to combat communism in Asia than the Americans in spite of all the resources and the money they have piled into this part of the world. Before these elections the choice in Pakistan was a straight one between communism and capitalism'. How true.

The choice even after the elections was 'between communism and capitalism'. Bhotto was mistaken in lulling himself to the belief that he would strike a balance between his class of feudal lords and his electorate of serfs. He realized this mistake too. But only when he had landed himself in a death cell. In 1979, a military dictator sent Bhotto to gallows with tacit support lent by Washington. His murder was a multi-faceted tragedy as,among other things, it reduced PPP to a family heirloom.

Ali Bhutto's successor-daughter, Benazir Bhotto was never a radical or may be she thought it wise to seek shelter underneath the imperial umbrella. That her father had already purged the PPP of left radicals, made it even easy for Benazir Bhotto to eulogise Swedish model as the panacea for all the ills facing Pakistan.

Hence, when she returned from exile in 1986, the one-million crowd that welcomed her in Lahore was chanting in vain: Benazir aai hej, Inqlab lai hej. (Benazir has returned and has brought revolution).
What Benazir had returned with was an agenda for privatization, downsizing, right-sizing. She ruthlessly perused this programme when she came to power in 1988 even if 'Socialism is our Economy ' was still on the PPP statute books.

However, when in 1993, PPP went to elections; it rid even its statute books of 'Socialism is our Economy'.

Her second stint in power has been superbly portrayed by Tariq Ali: ''By the time she was re-elected in 1993, she had abandoned all idea of reform, but that she was in a hurry to do something became clear when she appointed her husband minister for investment, making him responsible for all investment offers from home and abroad. It is widely alleged that the couple accumulated $1.5 billion. The high command of the Pakistan People's Party now became a machine for making money, but without any trickle-down mechanism''.
Surrey Palace, SGS Cotectna, jam-eating horses, gem-studded necklace became catch phrases in Pakistan press and politics. Now an unofficial PPP manifesto had become:

USA is our faith.
Double-speak is our politics
Corruption is our Economy
All power to the Khaki people

The Vice President of Socialist International, Comrade Asif Ali Zardari is a superb delineation of new-PPP statutes. When Benazir Bhotto formed her first government in 1988,that lasted until 1990, he earned himself the sobriquet : Mr Ten Percent.

In three years time, during Benazir's second stint in power (1993-96), he pole-vaulted himself to Mr Cent Percent. And consequently landed himself in jail for almost ten years. It was to secure his release, many believe, that Benazir Bhotto kept on compromising with Musharraf regime.

He was, in due course, released as co-operation between Musharraf and Benazir evolved into a political compromise. Her return to Pakistan, October last year, was a part of this deal. However, on her return she wisely kept Asif Ali Zardari abroad. Alas! all her attempts proved futile. In her murder, a double tragedy struck Pakistan. First, Pakistan was deprived of her only national-level woman leader. Second, Zardari was back in Pakistan and also on the helm of party-government affairs.
Hardly had anybody any illusions in him when he became an unchallenged master of PPP government despite his trimmed down mustache and permanently stretched lips in an attempt to pose a changed image.

No facial re-doing helped him rehabilitate his image damaged beyond repair. But one must praise Master Zardari, whose rise to power every time is always in direct proportion to fall in PPP popularity, for being cagey. The day he came across membership card Benazir Bhutto had secured to enter Socialist club, he decided to give this camaraderie a try. Luckily, Socialist International is no crazy Marxist tendency founded by some V I Linen or Leon Trotsky. A bunch of degenerated social democrats, Socialist International is ready to embrace any party in the third world ready to serve global capital.

Its section in Nepal is pro-monarchy Nepalese Congress. Hence, Zardaris elevation as Socialist International? s vice- president is deservedly in a way.
Nonetheless, it is 'Comrade' Zardari who has benefited. First, he has been able to use the credentials lent by Socialist International to build his image. Secondly, he has sown a confusion among working class and advance layer of PPP activists . Every time Zardari will grace a Socialist International meeting, poor PPP sympathizers will, hoping against hope, expect a left turn. Unfortunately, such a turn will never come. (ends)