BY FAROOQ TARIQ
LAHORE — Since the bombing of neighbouring Afghanistan began, thousands of Pakistani religious elements, including young students, have taken to the streets all over Pakistan — and have been met by police violence, tear gas, baton charges and even shootings.
Here in Lahore, over a dozen small and big demonstrations have been organised by the religious parties. Peshawar and Quetta, the two cities closest to Afghanistan, have been the site of particularly massive demonstrations.
The air attacks on Afghanistan have generated enormous resentment among ordinary Pakistanis.
The level of anger varies from area to area — the most militant mood is in the two provinces bordering Afghanistan, North-West Frontier Province and Baluchistan, while the religious parties are losing ground in the big cities of Lahore and Karachi. But the general feeling of working people is that the United States has done wrong and that the Taliban will now retaliate.
When we stopped for a cup of tea at a cafe in Sahiwal, central Punjab, on the first evening of the bombing, a hotel worker told us of the attacks and said that more bloodshed is sure to follow.
"Is this not terrorism," Nazir Bhatti, a motor mechanic, told me that night. "If Americans die, it is very bad; if Afghanis die, it is no problem for the rich countries".
The mood in the villages is far angrier than in the cities. In the villages, Osama bin Laden is becoming a folk hero; he is worshipped everywhere.
The September 11 terror attacks have had a devastating effect on the politics of different trends in Pakistan, polarising them to an extent never seen before.
The traders and the rich are coming behind the military regime of General Pervaiz Musharraf: they see opportunities to make money.
But among ordinary Pakistanis, the regime is becoming increasingly isolated. With rising unemployment and price hikes, the result of following blindly the policies of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, the masses are already paying a high price. The attacks on Afghanistan have made hatred of the military regime and US imperialism grow.
General Musharraf is well aware of this, going on national television on October 8 to tell the US to keep their operation short and sharp.
But there is no short and sharp way of dealing with those who have been trained and equipped by Musharraf's army and are now declared "terrorists".
Musharraf may now be receiving prime ministers daily, an unprecedented situation for Pakistan, but all this will not stabilise his regime.
Now, whenever Musharraf appears on television, he seems upset and agitated. He has to think about every word that he says; he knows what can happen to him. He is playing with fire.
By siding with US imperialism, he has turned many of his former friends into enemies. Since October 7, there has been a reshuffle in the top ranks of the military: two of his close allies have been forced to go and the new army chief of staff is reportedly a close friend of the religious fanatics.
There is a growing danger of a reactionary popular movement against his policies and much blood could yet be spilled.
But it is not just the military for whom much has changed. For the religious fanatics, the US was once, in the 1980s, a source of great help for their jihad; now, it has become the Great Satan.
Before September 11, I debated Liaqat Baluch, the second-in-command of the country's most powerful party of religious fanatics, the Jamaat-i-Islami.
My main argument against him was that the religious parties have always bolstered successive military regimes. Whenever the military wanted to get rid of a civilian government, the religious parties were very much willing to do the dirty work.
Baluch became even more enraged when I said that in the 1980s, it was the US dollar and not the jihad that was the guiding light in the fight against the Soviets.
Now, the religious parties, who got all sorts of help from the military, are forced to openly oppose their masters of the past, in order to echo the general feeling of the masses.
The religious fundamentalist forces are propagandising for all-out support for Osama bin Laden and an all-out war. Over 50,000 demonstrated in Quetta on October 2, led by Jamiat Ulama Islam, a religious party that has openly supported the Taliban from the beginning.
The effect on other political forces has been similarly polarising.
The Pakistan Peoples Party, the party of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, is now openly supporting the regime's backing of the US. The party has also tried its best to please the military regime by participating in demonstrations on "Solidarity Day" on September 27.
In the North-West Frontier Province, the National Awami Party, the largest party of the Pashtun ethnic group, has also changed sides and now openly supports the regime.
Before September 11, the Pakistan Peoples Party and the National Awami Party openly opposed the military regime and were part of the Alliance for Restoration of Democracy.
The Muttahida Quami Movement, the party of the Mohajirs, the immigrants from India, in the southern city of Karachi, has also switched from opposition to support.
The Muslim League of ex-Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, meanwhile, is trailing behind the religious fundamentalists and is half-heartedly supporting the Taliban and opposing the military regime for its support for the US.
The position of the official labour movement is more and more to support the military regime. The main leaders of the Pakistan Workers Confederation have openly supported the military regime, with an appeal to the US not to attack Afghanistan.
The exception is those trade union leaders who are members of the Labour Party Pakistan, who have fought within the labour movement for a position of no support to the war. These trade union leaders, including Yousuf Baluch, have received a good hearing from the workers.
Some of the smaller alliances of the radical and Stalinist parties are also openly supporting the standpoint of the military regime. "The US must be supported to root out terrorism" is the cry from these ex-left parties, including the National Workers Party and Communist Mazdoor Kissan Party.
The September 11 attack has also polarised the civil society organisations and other democratic figures. Some, such as the renowned human rights activist Asma Jahangir, are taking a position of no to war but yes to "a measured response".
Many others are advocating a position of "No to war, no to terrorism", condemning both and openly declaring their solidarity with the international peace movement. Fareeda Shaheed of Shirkat Ghah and Nighar Ahmed of the Aurat Foundation lead this trend within the civil society organisations.
It is only the left which does not have to reverse position. The Pakistani left has always opposed religious fanaticism, has always opposed the military and has always opposed US imperialism.
Unfortunately, those who have been telling the truth are in a weak position. They have been proven correct but they do not yet have the power and resources to take advantage of that.
The Labour Party Pakistan's position is very close to the position of "No to war, no to terrorism". From the very first day, the LPP condemned the terrorist attack and the policies of US imperialism and rejected the idea of the lesser evil, that you had to choose between backing the Taliban or backing George Bush.
The party has also started to build a peace movement. The first peace demonstration will be held in Lahore on October 15. In coming weeks, peace demonstrations will also be held in Hyderabad, Karachi and Islamabad.
[Farooq Tariq is the general secretary of the Labour Party Pakistan.]