Peace demonstrators defy the madness
By Farooq Sulehria
LAHORE, Pakistan — Following India's nuclear blast on May 11, 1998, Pakistan's ruling elite created the impression that there was a national consensus about going nuclear. It was not so; voices did, and still do, oppose the nuclear madness.
A year after the blasts, the government, mired in economic and political crises, is trying to re-create last year's pro-nuclear, pro-war mania. Skirmishes on the "line of control" between India and Pakistan provide an ideal opportunity to do this, and state-run electronic media and a big section of the press are lending the government a helping hand by glorifying Pakistan's nuclear achievements.
In Lahore, the home town of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, the government has been attempting to prove that the people are vehemently pro-nuclear with triumphal demonstrations, rallies, banners and posters.
However, hundreds of peace activists on May 27 gathered at Faisal Chouck, opposite the Punjab Assembly building, to demonstrate against the nuclear madness.
It was a rare sight: the 300 demonstrators who stood in front of Faisal Chouck, which was decorated with banners congratulating the nation for its nuclear achievement and a life-size portrait of Nawaz Sharif, chanted "Bread not bombs!" and "Education not bombs!". Just days before, the provincial law minister, Raja Bhasharat, told the press that such demands are "anti-nation".
The action, organised by the Labour Party Pakistan in collaboration with the Communist Mazdoor Kissan Party, mobilised representatives of political parties, community-based organisations, trade unions and student unions.
Many passers-by, on reading our placards, flashed victory signs. Addressing the participants, renowned left leader Tahira Mazher Ali regretted the pro-nuclear celebrations while masses of people are being driven by economic hardship to commit suicide. "It's sheer madness. We need bread ... housing, clothing, education and a nuclear-free region", she said. "It is hunger, poverty and suicide that the rulers are celebrating." She demanded an immediate end to the nuclear arms race in the region.
Farooq Tariq, general secretary of the Labour Party Pakistan, said, "May 28 is being observed in Baluchistan, the province where the nuclear blast took place, as a black day. Sind has also boycotted the celebration organised by the government."
The convener of the Pakistan India Forum for Peace and Democracy, Dr Mubhashar Hasan, demanded an immediate end to the shelling at the line of control. He further demanded that the ruling elite sit around a table to seek a peaceful solution to all the issues. "War is no solution. It just adds to the misery of the toiling masses", he observed.
Syed Azim, Temur Hasan and other political activists also spoke. Asghar Ali and friends representing a peasant-based organisation in Punjab sang a song on the theme "Until the system changes, wars will continue".
[Farooq Sulehria will be speaking at the Resistance national conference in Melbourne, July 7-11. See page 29 for details.]