Pakistan: Workers Fight Bosses’ Terrorism

PAKISTAN, April 19—Three brave workers were killed in the city of Karachi, organizing a strike. The bosses and their police blame “unknown assailants,” with the underlying message that anyone who challenges the bosses will be killed. But the working class here cannot be stopped by horror or threats! The workers are daring and fearless, responding with anger to the situation of our class here and demonstrations are being organized throughout the country.    
PLP: Organizing and Fighting Back!
These actions are defying the bosses’ terror in every corner of Pakistan, a country which is a key player in the sharpening imperialist rivalry between the U.S. and China. PLP is in the thick of working-class fightback and organizing the fight for communism, to give communist leadership to the working class.
On March 8th, International Working Women’s Day, PLP participated in many events, building women to take the lead in our revolutionary party.
Workers are challenging the capitalist system throughout Pakistan, but their efforts are separated. PL’ers are working hard exposing misleaders of different puppet unions: organizing workers — women and men — in the WAPDA (Water And Power Development Authority), on the railroads, postal, docks, steel, telecommunications, healthcare, home health aides, doctors, teachers, domestic workers, landless farmers, students and professionals.
The bosses know the working class is angry, and they’re bringing forth new political faces. PLP has been exposing the illusions pushed by these politicians and their connections to the very capitalist bosses running Pakistan. PLP is the only party capable of liberating the working class by fighting for communism, not the phony attempts of the bosses to keep their system intact while channeling the workers’ rage into still another politician.
Pakistan Bosses: Biggest Terrorists
Every evil of capitalism is squeezing the neck of the working class. Terrorism, nationalism, fascism, corruption, shortage of electricity, privatization, unemployment, poverty, illiteracy, exploitation, and more. The terrorist capitalist bosses running Pakistan are no different in kind from the small-time terrorists like al-Qaeda which they pretend to be fighting.
Terrorism is useful to the capitalists here, maintaining enough chaos so that working class remains divided, frightened and quiet. The many terrorist groups in Pakistan have the same thing in common: kill innocent workers, soldiers and students. Capitalist bosses use the terrorists to eliminate their political opponents. They’ve especially targeted workers fighting back, like the three workers in Karachi.
These terrorist groups, while being used for various purposes by rival capitalist factions, are influential powers in their own right. Many terrorist groups have strong ties in different government departments, educational institutions and political parties. When the Pakistan Army started an offensive to clear terrorist sanctuaries around the country to contain their influence, the terrorists started attacking schools, universities and parks, killing innocent workers already facing everyday capitalist terrorism.
Capitalism Means Terrorism for Working Class
In the city of Faisalabad, power loom workers have nothing to feed their families. Bosses are closing down factories and profiting by shifting money to other countries. When the power loom workers organized demonstrations, the police beat them. More than three dozen were severely injured, and about three hundred imprisoned where they were tortured and ordered not go on strike again.
There is no concept of safety at workplaces. Most factories don’t have emergency exits. Miners bear some of the worst working conditions, with more than 134 killed in last three months.
Women workers are not even considered human beings. They are the least paid, and are sexually harassed and abused at workplaces. On average, three women commit suicide, four women are raped, and six killed every day in Pakistan. In 2014, about one thousand women were killed.
There are 10 million children working in different industries but ILO-funded fake-leftist NGOs are claiming that child labor has nearly ended! Meanwhile, in the Sindh province, an average of 17 children die per day because of malnutrition.
Pakistan: Key Link in Imperialist Rivalry
Pakistan is a key link in the sharpening rivalry between U.S. and Chinese imperialism. While in the past Pakistani capitalists have been staunchly pro-U.S. imperialist, Chinese bosses have taken giant steps toward seducing the Pakistani capitalists in the interests of their own imperialist ambitions. The current construction projects known as the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is a strategic part of China’s “New Silk Road,” or “One Belt, One Road” (OBOR; see CHALLENGE editorial, 3/9).
CPEC is rapidly constructing networks of highways, telecommunications lines, railways and other infrastructure, as well as enormous gas and oil pipelines linking China directly to Iran. China recently financed the construction of a massive Pakistani deep-water port in Gwadar. It will receive 60 percent of China’s oil imports and pump them directly into China, avoiding the nearby U.S. Navy-patrolled South China Sea.
Our Party in Pakistan is fighting to build a mass international PLP. Our struggle continues. We will send more updates!