Workers Power Pakistan
A correspondent from Workers Power Pakistan reports on the recent offensive by the Pakistani military in South Waziristan
After a brief lull in Islamist activity, cities across Pakistan were rocked by several terrorist attacks on security forces and various public buildings. It was a stark reminder to everyone of the strength of the militant Islamists. Within a day they had threatened to age guerilla war across the country against the government and the army. It was the attack against General Head Quarters (GHQ) on 10 October, and the resulting 20 hours of fighting, coupled with further attacks in Lahore, Khohats and Peshwar that killed around two hundred people, that acted as the backdrop for the military’s new offensive. However, these bombings have raised many question regarding the lack of success from the Pakistani military in waging its war on terror on behalf of Bush and Obama.
In the last military operation in Swat, Government and military official are claiming that Taliban is on the retreat and that they had broken their command structure. It is now clear how successful the military operation was in Swat, and the answer is that it has failed. According the government more than 3.5 million people were displaced in the fighting, leading to a serious refugee crisis in the country. Independent sources said that thousands of ordinary people have been killed and injured, with serious infrastructural damage across the region. People are now living under curfews and faced daily insults and threats from state forces.
Following similar lines, the situation in South Waziristan is now very dangerous. Several air attacks have been carried out which killed many people, the number of people that are displace at the moment is currently around 200,000 and more people fled after the start of the recent military operation. This follows a campaign in the media, who have argued for some time now that the government should launch the military operations to ‘pacify’ the region.
The army are seen as heroes and at the present they dominate the political landscape in Pakistan. After winning the general election, the Peoples Party Pakistan had good relation with GHQ. But the situation is changing because after eighteen months of total failure to deliver anything substantial to the people of Pakistan, people are getting angry.
With the recent discussions around the Kerry-Lugar bill in the US (which argues the policy of Pakistan first, that the Taliban must be beaten in pakistan before they can be defeated in Afghanistan), a number of generals are becoming minor media celebrities as they show their faces on the TV speaking out against the bill.
This is part of GHQ trying to rehabilitate its image in the aftermath of the Musharraf dictatorship, which was of course run by the generals in GHQ. Now the Generals pose as the so-called defenders of the nation, whereas Zadari, they claim, has sold out the country to the US.
The real source of the conflict between the Generals and the PPP government is that the Generals want to be able to negotiate directly with Washington, to cut out the civilian government, who they argue do not really understand the military and the fight against the Taliban. Worryingly, the military is gaining support from some sections of Pakistani society. After the attacks on the GHQ there were demonstrations across the country in defence of the military (mainly by the opposition and some Islamist parties).
Iraq, Afghanistan and the operation in the fata region show that the war and military operation has not brought peace. Instead it has killed and injured innocent people, demolished the infrastructure and fractured human relations. This atmosphere only strengthens the Islamic extremists. The other factor which is helping them to grow is the widening gap between rich and poor and the increasing sense of dissatisfaction and alienation that many people feel as a result of the capitalist crisis.
Of course the Left can also grow in this situation, but it cannot do so if it falls into the trap of championing the military as fighters for democracy as some socialist groups have done. This view comes from the sense of powerlessness that some people on the Left have, because the working class is not as active as they want it to be, not as strong as they would like. Instead they look for some other force to fight the extremists and resist ‘talibanisation’ and they can only see the military. But support for the military discredits the Left in the eyes of the great mass of peasants and workers – have people forgotten that it was only a few years ago that the military ruled Pakistan under a dictatorial government, backed by US imperialism?
What we need in Pakistan and across the central Asian and south Asian regions are working class parties fighting for the revolutionary overthrow of capitalism. This will happen against the military, against the capitalist parties like the PPP and against the religious political movements. Peace in Afghanistan and Pakistan can only come through a socialist struggle against imperialism and a revolution across the region against capitalism.
We stand for an end to the military attacks in South Waziristan and for an end to the occupation of the Swat Valley. We need to support the struggle against imperialism and occupation, and work to win the peasants in these regions to a socialist programme of land reform and wealth redistribution. Pakistan can only be saved from the brink of anarchy and civil war by a workers revolution – that is the strategic goal and that is what socialists fight for.