Labour Party formed in Sindh
By Sean Healy
KARACHI — The struggles of workers and peasants in the southern Pakistani province of Sindh have taken a big step forward with the formation of the Labour Party of Pakistan in the province.
The Labour Party of Pakistan's first Sindh conference was held in the rural town of Birt Shah, outside of Hyderabad, on August 15.
The conference was the culmination of 12 months' work in building and consolidating an activist base in the region. It was attended by 300 people from 17 cities and towns throughout Sindh, including peasant leaders, prominent trade unionists and students.
The new Sindh organisation also brings together activists from a range of political backgrounds, including members and leaders of the former Communist Party of Pakistan as well as layers new to socialist politics.
The formation of the Sindh organisation comes at an important time for Pakistan and for Sindh. The national government of Nawaz Sharif is tottering under the weight of a deep economic crisis and its own incompetence and corruption. Chances of it completing its full five year term appear nil.
At the same time, the official "opposition" of Benazir Bhutto's People's Party is discredited by its own corruption and hypocrisy, even in its former Sindh heartland. Bhutto's second term as PM was ended in November 1996, when she was sacked by the president for embezzlement and extrajudicial killings in Karachi.
Various Islamic fundamentalist and right-wing regionalist forces have sought to fill this political vacuum. It is likely that things will get worse for many people before they get better.
Sindh is desperately poor. The majority of the peasant tenant farmers are entirely at the mercy of semi-feudal landlords. There are worsening employment prospects for the province's urban working class, and disintegrating services and infrastructure.
For example, at least 300 "ghost schools" exist in the province, in which only 10% of the population is literate; these schools have either been taken over by gangsters to be used as headquarters or have staff who collect their wages but don't teach a single student.
The Sindhis are also subjected to national oppression within Pakistan at the hands of the dominant Punjabi nationality, which dominates the federal government and the military. The Kalabagh Dam, now being planned for southern Punjab, is one example of this — the dam will be a boon for Punjab but will undermine the water supply to downstream Sindh and will destroy the livelihoods of many peasant communities.
The situation of those in Karachi, with its 12 million people, is just as desperate. Karachi is a war zone, large parts of it under the control of the quasi-fascist Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM).
The MQM is based on a demagogic "defence" of the interests of the Urdu-speaking Mohajirs, who fled from India at the time of partition in 1947 and make up 60% of the population of the city.
In the last week, Karachi has been under an MQM-imposed reign of terror. The MQM has declared a general strike and "days of mourning" following the slaying of 12 of its members; more than 50 people have been killed by MQM militants during these "days of mourning".
The prospects for the Labour Party of Pakistan, however, are good. The party's name and message are spreading rapidly. In the interior of Sindh, the party has set up committees in many areas, all of which are growing rapidly.
Even in Karachi, the party has established an extensive network, including amongst the oppressed religious minorities, in the Karachi Municipal Corporation and even at MQM-held Karachi University.
The spirit of the conference was euphoric. "At last, we have a party of our own" was a much-repeated comment from the participants.
"The conference definitely showed both the rapid gains made so far and the possibilities for further big steps forward in the near future", said Farooq Sulheria, editor of the party's newspaper Mazdoor Jeddojuhd (Workers' Struggle). "It has given hope to all of us."