BY JOHN PERCY
SYDNEY — The Seraiki National Party from Pakistan has accepted an invitation to attend the second Asia Pacific International Solidarity Conference, scheduled for here at Easter 2002.
The conference will be the first time representatives of the party have visited Australia. The party will be represented by its president, Abdul Majeed Kanjoo, and its spokesperson, Ahmed Mustafa Kanjoo.
There are 50 million people of Seraiki origin in Pakistan, and the Seraiki National Party is struggling for their democratic national rights and self-government.
Abdul Majeed Kanjoo is also a member of the central council of the Pakistan Oppressed Nations Movement, which involves members of the Seraiki, Sindhi, Baluchi and Pashtoon nations and seeks to reconstitute Pakistan on a fairer basis and overturn the undemocratic domination of the ruling Punjabi minority.
The Seraiki National Party had planned to attend the Democratic Socialist Party congress in Sydney in January, but were denied a visa by the Australian government. With nearly a year to go until the conference, organisers intend to wage a campaign to ensure that the SNP is not denied its democratic right to attend this conference.
The Seraiki representatives are the latest to confirm their attendance at what promises to be a very significant conference for the region's left.
Alain Krivine, a leader of the French Revolutionary Communist League and a member of the European parliament, has confirmed his attendance, as has British Marxist intellectual Alex Callinicos, who will represent the Socialist Workers Party of Britain. The Portuguese Left Bloc has confirmed that it will attend, and conference organisers are confident of being able to host a leader of the Scottish Socialist Party.
The conference is being organised by the Asia Pacific Institute for Democratisation and Development, PO Box 515, Broadway 2007, Australia. Email: <apisc2002@greenleft.org.au>.