| |
Internet Edition: May 1-15, 2005 |
| TABLE OF CONTENTS
WORLD LETTERS TO EDITOR |
|
|
|
No compromise with the capitalist reform program!  Comrade workers!
Red salute on the occasion of May Day! We are celebrating May Day 2005 at a time when the working class and peoples of the world are threatened with super-exploitation and imperialist wars. It is a time when the working class and the oppressed nations and peoples are fighting courageously to halt the imperialist offensive. They are fighting to open the path to a new world without wars, without exploitation and poverty. In India, one year has passed since the Congress Party led UPA Government was established. The UPA Government came to power promising to address the problem of unemployment and the rising suicide rate among the peasants. It promised to implement the capitalist reform program with a so-called human face. Actual experience over the past year has exposed this fraud. Workers continue to face increasing unemployment and insecurity of jobs, just as they did under the BJP led NDA Government. Privatisation is not only being continued but extended to new areas such as banking and insurance. While an Employment Guarantee Act was promised one year ago, what have been delivered are only some crumbs to a small minority of persons in the name of food for work. On the other hand, lakhs of workers have become homeless as a result of the demolitions carried out in Mumbai and other big cities, in the name of the "Shanghai Project". Peasants all over the country are continuing to be threatened with price instability, lack of access to irrigation and growing burden of debt on their backs. They are threatened by the growing domination of big capitalist companies and multinationals over the supply of seeds, over agricultural markets and ultimately over the land itself. The UPA Government has already amended the patents law governing essential medicines, leading to steep increase in their prices. There are moves to amend the Seeds Act, which will place peasants at the mercy of the big corporations, Indian and foreign. The two annual budgets of the UPA Government have shown that the orientation of economic policy remains the same as it was under the NDA regime. The bulk of government revenue continues to be sucked out of the incomes of workers, peasants and the middle strata. The bulk of government spending continues to be geared towards enriching the money lending institutions and the arms merchants. Events in Manipur and other parts of the Northeast have exposed the claim of the UPA Government that it is more democratic than the previous regime. Human rights and national rights continue to be trampled in the mud in the name of security, and in the name of defending the unity and integrity of India. The UPA Government is showing even greater enthusiasm than the previous regime in developing a strategic partnership with the United States. Indo-US military collaboration is being raised to new heights, in the name of fighting terrorism. This poses very serious dangers to peace and security of the peoples of South Asia. Comrade workers! What do all these facts show? The facts show that the replacement of the NDA regime with the UPA regime has not led to any change in the orientation of the economy and of government policy. They show that it is not possible to pursue the path of capitalist reforms and at the same time look after the interests of the workers and peasants. They show that the real aim of the slogan of implementing “reforms with a human face†is to make the working class compromise its position with respect to the privatisation and liberalisation program. One important lesson to be drawn is that the working class cannot and must not compromise with the capitalist reform program. The issue is not to replace one way of implementing this program with another way of implementing the same program. The issue is to halt and reverse this program altogether. Another important lesson is that those who till the land cannot find secure livelihood under the rule of the bourgeoisie. It is the duty of the working class to champion the cause of ensuring a stable and guaranteed livelihood for the peasantry. There are some parties within the working class movement who say that the present Congress Party led government must be supported, because otherwise the BJP will come back. Those who advocate this course want us to believe that there is no alternative except to have one bourgeois party or another in power. They want us to believe that there is no alternative to bourgeois rule, and no alternative to the privatisation and liberalisation program. There IS an alternative to bourgeois rule, which is the rule of the workers and peasants. There IS an alternative to the privatisation and liberalisation program; and that is the program to reorient the economy to fulfill the needs of the toilers and tillers. It is the program to dig the grave of capitalism and build a socialist society. The first step towards this end is for the working class to forge a powerful united front with the peasants. Comrade workers! Let us raise our voices in unison and demand that no communist party must extend support to the UPA Government or to any other bourgeois coalition. Let us demand that all communists must devote their attention to building a united front of the workers and peasants. This must be a united front without the bourgeoisie and against the bourgeoisie. The united front of the workers and peasants must be built not only from above, by various parties coming together. It must be built mainly from below, by the masses of workers and peasants coming together. This means that we must build fighting committees in every factory, in every village and every mohalla. Such committees must discuss and develop the alternative program of the toilers and tillers. Such committees can and must become the organs of a new political power – the rule of the workers and peasants. Let us fight to establish the rule of workers and peasants, with a government that will immediately halt and reverse the anti-people program of privatisation and liberalisation. Such a government will suspend paying interest to the big banks and financial institutions, unearth the black monies, cut back on arms spending, and redeploy the savings towards ensuring livelihood for all. Comrade workers! India consists of numerous nations, nationalities and peoples, each with their distinct language, culture and history of statecraft. The ruling bourgeoisie uses these differences to suppress all of us, just like the British colonialists did in their time. The Central Government unleashes violence and terror against the Manipuris and the Nagas, against the Kashmiris and others, in the name of fighting against terrorism and defending the unity and integrity of India. It is essential for us, the workers, to uphold the banner of the right of every nation and every people to self-determination. We must fight with the slogan that an attack on one is an attack on all! We must fight with the aim of establishing a new voluntary Union of Workers' and Peasants' Republics, in place of the colonial style Indian Union that exists today. The working class movement must build political unity with the national liberation movements, which are fighting against the big bourgeoisie and the central state -- our common enemies. The State has no right to sell public property to private bidders! Halt and reverse the privatisation program! Revoke the anti-social Patent's Act! No to the Seeds Act! No to the Agricultural Products Amendment Act! Work and Livelihood must become justiciable rights! Down with state terrorism and fascist laws! Uphold the right of every nation to self-determination! Build the United Front of Workers and Peasants! Build sangharsh samitis in every factory, village and mohalla! Long live May Day! Workers of all countries, Unite! Inquilab Zindabad! |
|
May day demonstration by workers of Modern Food Industries (India) Limited MFIL Chennai workers held the May Day meeting at their factory gate at Tharamani, Chennai. Scores of workers were present at this May Day meeting. Program commenced by hoisting the red flag by Thiru. Geetha Chari, treasurer of the MFIL federation. Baskar who spoke on behalf of Makkalatchi Iyakkam (Lok Raj Sangathan), greeted the workers on May day. He recalled the recent history of the MFIL workers struggle against privatization since 2000. He elaborated the struggle waged by the workers of the MFIL Lawarance road, Delhi unit over the last few years since MFIL was handed over to Hindustan Lever Management. He discussed the struggle of the workers at the factory gates and in various forums including the courts. Due to the principled and persistent struggle undertaken by the MFIL workers, government was forced to set up a committee to go into the after effects of the privatization in MFIL and Balco. This committee has concluded that the HLL management has adopted all types of illegal means to throw out the workers and trade union activists in the name of VRS, etc. The report also refers to the selling of assets of the MFIL by the HLL management. Although the report was submitted to the government several months back, no action been initiated till now to correct the situation, he said. It is very important that workers further unite and demand corrective actions from the government. Workers should not only demand the HLL management to stop all the attacks on the workers and meet all the just demands of theirs. Vast majority of the people of India have categorically rejected the path of privatization and liberalization policies of the Government by voting them out of power in the last general elections. But the new Congress led government which has come to power, has not changed the course. It is talking about "selective" privatization. Under this logic those public sector organizations, which are making a loss, can be privatized! He said, workers cannot accept this logic that the assets created by the workers and Indian people can be donated to the private profiteers. In fact any one who is genuinely interested in the welfare of the workers must demand that ALL privatization must stop and those, which were privatized earlier, must be reversed and rights and livelihood of these workers must be protected. He also emphasized that all workers must unite and defend their interests. It is very important that workers to play active role and take leadership roles in their unions. Workers welcomed these ideas, which reflect their own experience. Following this, Thiru. Elumalai spoke. He mentioned the attacks of the management over the years. He exposed the various tactics of the management to divide the workers and trying to isolate each of them to their respective units. He stressed the need to unite and fight. Thiru Panneer thanked the participants and raised the slogans. May Day meeting of MFIL workers has generated a resolve in the hearts of the workers to tighten their ranks and resolutely fight back the HLL management and the government, which is defending the capitalists. |
|
Modern Food: Closures, Retrenchments, asset stripping including sale of land are the order of the day The ugly face of privatisation further unveiled! Carry forward the struggle for halting and reversing privatisation! Former Disinvestment Minister Mr. Arun Shourie had assured parliament that "While drafting the Share Holders' and Share Purchase Agreement in consultation with prospective bidders, we have striven hard to ensure that provisions are included to strengthen the health and prosperity of the company, to protect the interests of employees, and, most of all, to safeguard the security of the country. Provisions have also been included to preclude malpractices about which apprehensions have been expressed - like asset stripping." Finance Minister Mr. Jaswant Singh, referring to the land of Modern Food, made a statement in Rajya Sabha on April 27, 2004 that "...Land is there only notionally. It is a leasehold land. It is meant specifically for the function, it is specifically for the purpose of food processing...". Not withstanding these assurance Modern Food sold 88,239.70 sq foot of its plot (31 A) on Tumkur bangalore Road to one M/s Bikaner House Ltd for Rs. 2.48 crores. An HLL spokesperson when contacted denied this was "asset stripping". On February 22-23 2005, MFIL took out advertisements in Hindustan Times and Navbharat Times respectively for the "outright sale" of "free hold property" of 4.91 acres on the Mathura Road, in Faridabad next to the Delhi Public School. It advertises the "excellent location" 10 Km from South Delhi and 1.5 KM from Ansal Plaza, Faridabad. The land belongs to one of the units closed down by Modern Food Industries (India) Limited. The advertisement specifically calls for bids for 1.54 acres of residential and 3.64 acres of factory land. In March 2004, Modern Food Industries (India) Limited applied to the DDA in Delhi for conversion of the plots of Delhi Bread Unit-I (B-4-8 Lawrence Road) and Fruit Juice Bottling Plant (Rasika) (C-4 Lawrence Road) from lease hold to free-hold land. On 26-3-2004, a Secretary in the Ministry of Food Processig Industries wrote to the DDA to assist the HLL management to convert the above properties speedily to freehold. In October 2004, the Fact Finding Committee set up by former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to investigate into the workings of Modern Food Industries (India) Limited and BALCO after privatisation submitted its report to the current Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The four member Fact Finding Committee was headed by the President of the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh, Shri Hansubhai Dave, and included representatives from the ministries of labour and disinvestment as also of the employers association. In its report the Committe noted many labour malpractices of the HLL management and admitted "Their (HLL's) only interest is in the land". In January 2005, a newsreport appeared that Hindustan Lever may be planning to exit from Modern Foods. Meanwhile, in March 2005, Modern Food Industries (India) Limited management signed an illegal agreement with two so-called Federations to close down a number of units all over the country in the name of being unviable and simultaneously put forth a new "Voluntary Retirement Scheme" package. It must be noted that already, nearly 70 % of the workforce of Modern Food Industries (India) Limited at the time of privatisation in January 2000 have been laid off in one way or the other. A majority of the 21 units of Modern Food Industries (India) Limited are closed down, and several plants in the remaining units have been sold off. HLL is carrying out outsourcing of bread production in sweat shops where there is no quality control and where labour is on a contract basis paid even below the notified minimum wages. In its six monthly report to the BIFR in January 2005, Modern Food Industries (India) Limited has admitted that its "turn around plans" are not working out very well. It has indicated that it will pursue a course of asset stripping, layoffs, and closures as the way to "turn around" the company. It is extremely clear that the worst fears of the workers of Modern Food about privatisation are coming true. All through the struggle over the past five and half years, the workers of Modern Food Industries (India) Limited have been pointing out that HLL, the multi-national company which bought Modern Food Industries (India) Limited at a throw away price, was not interested in reviving the company, which anyway was in good health until it was selected for divinvestment by the United Front government in 1997. HLL was interested only in the real estate and prime property, which Modern Food Industries (India) Limited occupies in various cities and towns around the country. The total land occupied by Modern Food Industries (India) Limited is 4,42,301.58 sq meters. There is 36,000 sq meters of land in Delhi alone, apart from flats and other properties. There is 22,257 sq meters land in one of prime areas of Mumbai. HLL has, from day one, eyed this land. The workers of Modern Food Industries (India) Limited have submitted numerous memorandum to the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as well as his colleagues, during the past year, right from the time the UPA government took office, to look into the goings on in Modern Foods. The answer from the Prime Minister's office and the government at large is deadly silence. The UPA government has been advertising itself as a government that promotes "reforms with a human face". The fact that in its nearly one year of rule, it has not bothered to even table the Fact Finding Committee's Report on privatisation of Modern Food Industries (India) Limited and BALCO in parliament for discussion, reveals the actual content of this "human face". The struggle of the working class against privatisation has reached a crucial phase. The UPA government is carrying on the same privatisation program of the previous NDA government with a change of method. The change involves, as in the case of Modern Food, killing opposition through a conspiracy of silence, of letting HLL carry out its entire plans "in peace" while hoping that the blame if any will fall on the previous government. This is the UPA strategy with respect to already privatised units like Modern Food Industries (India) Limited. The working class must not allow this to pass. The battle lines are drawn. Workers and trade unions cutting accross party and trade union lines must take up the heroic struggle of Modern Food workers as their own, recognising that it has been from January 2000, and remains till today, the cutting edge of the struggle of the class against privatisation. Through their heroic and persistent struggle, Modern Food Industries (India) Limited workers have put successive governments as well as a giant multinational like HLL on notice. Through different kinds of actions, workers and trade unions must force the government to clearly state where it stands in the struggle. Does it plan to table the report of the Hansubhai Dave Committee in parliament or not? What does it propose to do regarding asset stripping? If the assurances of former ministers Shri Arun Shourie and Shri Jaswant Singh have been violated, what action does the government propose against the guilty party. Should workers not demand that the privatisation of Modern Foods be reversed? The time is here and now to step up the struggle in parliament and in the streets, on this question of vital importance to the Indian working class. |
|
Hail the revolutionary life and work of Karl Marx! May 5th is the birth anniversary of Karl Marx, the immortal leader and teacher of the international proletariat. Born in the city of Trier, Germany in 1818, Karl Marx was the genius who, along with his close comrade and collaborator Frederick Engels, armed the working class with its own guiding doctrine, the doctrine of scientific socialism. Marxism is the system of Marx's views and teachings. Marx continued and consummated the main ideological currents of the 19th century in Philosophy, Political Economy and Socialism and provided the theory and program of the working class movement for its emancipation. Karl Marx developed the world outlook or philosophy of dialectical and historical materialism. Dialectics is the doctrine of development in its fullest, deepest and most comprehensive form, the doctrine of the relativity of human knowledge that provides us with a reflection of eternally developing matter. Marx deepened and developed philosophical materialism to the full and extended the cognition of nature to the cognition of human society. His historical materialism is a strikingly integral and harmonious scientific theory which shows how in consequence of the growth of productive forces, out of one system of social life another and higher system develops. Marx showed that political institutions are a superstructure on economic foundations. Social knowledge—political, philosophical, religious views and doctrines—reflect the economic system of society. Marx showed through his profound theoretical work that the exploitation of one class by another is not something eternal, which would continue forever. Instead, he showed that this exploitation came into being at a very definite stage in the development of human society, and just as inevitably must give way to classless society. Analysing the specific law of motion of capitalist society, Marx showed that capitalism too must inevitably give way to a higher form of society – in which the exploitation of man by man would be done away with once and for all. The class that would be the gravedigger of capitalism would be none other than the proletariat, the class that was itself a product of modern industrial society and which had "nothing to lose but its chains". In the Communist Manifesto, Marx and Engels outlined a comprehensive doctrine of development and elaborated on the revolutionary role of the working class as the creator of a new, communist society. Marx showed the workers exactly how their exploitation takes place under the capitalist system, through the extraction of the surplus value from the labour of the workers by the capitalists. Where bourgeois economists saw a relation between things (exchange of commodities), Marx revealed a relation between people. The worker spends one part of the day covering the cost of maintaining himself and his family (wages), whole the other part of the day he works without remuneration, creating surplus value for the capitalist, the source of profit and wealth of the capitalist class. Marx developed the doctrine of scientific socialism. He showed that the history of class society is a history of class struggle. He showed that the class struggle raging in capitalist society would lead to the overthrow of capitalism and its replacement by classless communist society. Karl Marx pointed out that the working class must establish the dictatorship of the proletariat in order to build socialist and communist society. Karl Marx dedicated his life to organising the working class to achieve its historic mission of overthrowing capitalism and ushering in socialism on a world scale. Along with Engels, he founded the first International Working Men’s Association, which played a very important role in the rapid development of the working class movement in several countries. Throughout his life, he was the shining example of a consistent revolutionary fighter, who never spared himself, but participated actively and wholeheartedly, in the revolutionary struggles of his time. We are living and working in times wherein the imperialist bourgeoisie has launched the most savage attack on all the achievements of humankind in the twentieth century, and is imposing medievalist and everything retrograde on the working class and peoples. The setback to socialism is being used to launch frontal attack on the doctrine of scientific socialism. The conciliators with social democracy in the communist movement are busy overturning the fundamental principals and conclusions of Marxism. They are trying to prolong the life of the man eating capitalist system from the revolution and trying to disrupt and divide the revolutionary forces. Marxism is a living doctrine. The efforts of the social democrats and conciliators with social democracy to either revise Marxism to rob it of its revolutionary essence, or achieve the same nefarious aim by converting it into lifeless dogma have to be continuously defeated. Our party, as also communist revolutionaries the world over, are engaged in the indispensable task of elaborating the theory of the revolution in contemporary times while firmly upholding the fundamental principals and conclusions of Marxism. The task of ending exploitation of persons by persons can and will be completed! |
|
No To Resumption of Indian Military Aid to Nepal! People's Voice condemns the UPA government's promise to resume military assistance to the government of Nepal. This promise was made by Manmohan Singh to the Nepal king Gyanendra on April 23, on the sidelines of the Afro-Asian Summit at Bandung, Indonesia. Indian military assistance is intended for use by the regime of Gyanendra against the long-suffering masses of people of Nepal who are fighting heroically against his fascist regime. It will only serve to exacerbate the civil war, increase bloodshed, and intensify the crisis of the political order in that country which has lost all legitimacy in the eyes of the people. The Indian State has for some time been one of the main suppliers of military hardware and props of the bankrupt monarchy in Nepal, along with the US and British imperialists. Emboldened by the aid it has been receiving from these powers, the regime in Nepal has been carrying out a savage offensive against the fighting people. In early February, the monarch Gyanendra declared emergency in Nepal, eliminating at one stroke even the semblance of democracy or human rights. This was a reflection of the failure of his strategy of trying to crush opposition to his rule by brute force, a strategy which had the full backing of the Indian State. To save its own image in the face of widespread opposition to GyanendraÂ’s emergency regime, the UPA government temporarily suspended its military aid. It is clear now that this was just a ruse, and that the UPA government was waiting for the initial furor to die down, and for an opportunity to restart military supplies. The working class and people of India must actively fight against the resumption of military aid to the butcher Gyanendra! Military aid to the Gyanendra regime is a crime against our brothers and sisters, the Nepali people. It was a crime both before the imposition of the recent “emergency†as well as now, while it still continues. All political forces who support the struggle of the people of Nepal for an end to the Monarchy must come together to oppose this move of the Indian state and stop it in its tracks. In particular, they must demand that the communists in parliament take a bold step and block this move of the Manmohan Singh government to resume arms sale to the Nepalese monarchy. |
|
A "Succes Strory" for Capitalists? Modern Food Industries (India) Limited (MFIL) has been repeatedly hailed as a "success story" of privatisation by the ministers, industry circles and the monopoly controlled media. On January 30, 2000 the government of India sold 74% shares of MFIL to HLL for a paltry sum of Rs. 105.45 crores. Subsequently, two years later, it sold the remaining 26% shares to HLL despite widespread and continuous opposition from the workers represented by Modern Food Industries Employees Union as well as mounting evidence that HLL was carrying out asset stripping, retrenchment, and closures on a massive scale. The workers have been on continuous dharna outside the gates of MFIL Bread Unit-I for THREE years now. They have organised numeorus demonstrations and protests in the past 5 and half years. Repeated clean chits were given to the HLL management by succesive ministers of disinvestment in the NDA government.and the dozens of memorandum and appeals by the workers, the union, and progressive public opinion, were greeted with a conspiracy of silence. The HLL management became so brazen that right when Mr Arun Shourie was defending its so-called 'pro-worker' track record in parliament in August 2003, it put up an illegal notice of closure ouside the Fruti Juice Bottling Plant in Delhi. It is a year since the UPA government has come to power. While this government looks on in silence, MFIL has closed down a majority of the 21 units all across the country. It has begun to sell the land of MFIL. It is now planning to sell the Delhi Bread Unit-I property in Lawrence Road to Pepsi Cola, Bon Bread or some other multinational. It is applying enormous pressure on the workers to take "Voluntary Retirement" so it can close down this biggest bread manufacturing unit of Modern Foods in India. |
|
Chinese Premier's visit: The head of the Chinese government, Premier Wen Jiabao, paid a four-day visit to India in early April. This visit took place against the background of two major developments. One is the growing US presence in Central Asia, bordering both India and China, following the US invasion of Afghanistan, and its increased presence in the Central Asian republics that were once part of the Soviet Union. Both China and India, while separately engaging with US imperialism, have expressed apprehensions about the heightened US global domination, or unipolarity, and have talked about the need to deal with it together. The other development is in the bilateral ties between India and China. In the last few years, trade between the two countries has grown phenomenally, from under $3 billion to over $13 billion, to the point where China is now the single largest trading partner of India next to the US. It is clear that there is potential for further expanding the economic ties between the two countries. This explains why this was perhaps the most cordial visit of a Chinese dignitary to India since Zhou Enlai's visit in the 1950s. This was underscored by the revival of the slogan “Hindi-Cheeni bhai-bhaiâ€, which was repeated several times by Wen Jiabao during his visit. In this visit for the first time, while no final settlement of the disputed border between India and China was achieved, it appeared that the border issue was put on a side track, and not allowed to dominate the discussions between the two sides. A set of “guiding principles†for working out an eventual settlement was agreed upon. It seems obvious that a final settlement, whenever it takes place, will involve some kind of trade-off or package deal between the two countries on all three sectors of the disputed boundary. Some further military “confidence building measures (CBMs)†were also agreed upon, including how both sides would back down in the eventuality of a face-to-face confrontation on the border. China formally reiterated its acceptance of Sikkim as a state of the Indian Union, and further measures were promised to promote trade at several points along the India-China border. The focus of this visit was on increasing economic and technological cooperation between India and China. This was apparent from Wen Jiabao first visiting Bangalore, where he interacted not only with major software companies, but also with two top scientific institutions, the Indian Institute of Science, and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). In Delhi too, the Premier chose to address students and faculty of the Indian Institute of Technology. Great stress was laid on how both countries are not competitors, but can have useful economic and strategic collaboration with each other. Both China and India are talking in terms of cooperation in the space and energy sectors. At the current high rates of growth that both countries are experiencing, adequate supply of oil and gas for the future is a major preoccupation of both countries. There is talk of China and India cooperating to access oil and gas from Iran as well as from the Central Asian republics such as Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, and so on, although no plans have been finalized yet. The geopolitics of this region is becoming increasingly complex. China is clearly interested in expanding its influence even into areas where it has not traditionally had much of a presence, such as South Asia. It has sought to have a presence in the Indian Ocean and Bay of Bengal, and has built close relations with Myanmar. Wen Jiabao's visit was part of a tour to four South Asian countries: India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. These moves have been of some concern to the Indian political and military establishment, which sees this region as its own "backyard". India too has been working proactively to extend its influence in both the South China Sea as well as the Central Asian republics bordering China. However, neither the Indian Government nor the Chinese appear to want a confrontation at this time. It was very clear that, unlike in the past when Chinese state pinned its strategy for South Asia on Pakistan or Nepal, with the edge directed against India, the Chinese state is now seeking greater across-the-board engagement with the South Asian region as a whole, and are putting India in the centre of this strategy. The Indian state is pleased with this status. The visit was as significant for what was not discussed, as for what was discussed between the two sides. Left out of the agenda were several of the main issues that have troubled India-China relations up till now: China's relations with Pakistan, India's nuclear capability, China's attitude to the Indian government's bid for a permanent seat in the UN Security Council (although later the Chinese gave a lukewarm endorsement of it), and differences in attitude towards the current situation in Nepal. Overall, it is a welcome development that confrontation over the border has become a relatively minor issue in India-China relations. Growing cooperation between India and China can also act as a temporary obstacle to US imperialism's plans to achieve total domination in this region. At the same time, the current growing engagement between India and China is taking place in the context in which both countries are seeking to pursue their ambitions to be recognised as global powers, on the basis of economies that are undergoing rapid capitalist growth. Right now, their strategies seem to converge, and relations are on the upswing, but the course they are both pursuing means that the possibilities still exist for them to clash in the future. |
|
Musharraf's visit to India: "Soft Borders" and Hard Realities Pakistan President Pervez Musharaf's flying visit on April 16-17 was hailed as a "landmark" in all the press and official circles. Both the Pakistani and Indian governments declared that the peace process was now "irreversible", thereby raising the hopes of people on both sides of the border to an unprecedented high. But while the atmospherics were certainly good, a sober assessment of the ground realities does not bear up the claims made. Various political pundits in India are crowing with delight that the Pakistani side neither insisted on nor received any concessions from the Indian government regarding Kashmir, and that Musharraf only paid lip-service this time to the necessity of resolving the Kashmir problem. According to them, this was a victory for India, and for the peace process. But how can the failure to address the problem of Kashmir in any way be conducive to peace between India and Pakistan? If one takes away the question of Kashmir, what other major problems remain between India and Pakistan, which can explain the antagonism and bloodshed of the past six decades? The fact is that the injustice done to the Kashmiri people, the failure by both sides to recognise their national aspirations, the abuses heaped on them by the Indian political and military establishment, are at the heart of the problem between India and Pakistan. Whether the Indian ruling class likes it or not, Kashmir is the central issue, and without resolving this, to talk of the peace process being irreversible is a pipe dream. The resolution of the Kashmir issue can take place only by putting the aspirations of the Kashmiri people in the forefront, and through their participation at every step. They cannot any longer be treated as cattle, to be kept in the dark about what is going on, and then divided up and traded along with their territory. While Musharraf paid lip-service to the wishes of the Kashmiri people, and met Hurriyat leaders on the sidelines, the Kashmiri people were left out of the proceedings altogether. The latest formula that the UPA government has come up with, which is being echoed by the Pakistani leadership, is that of "soft borders". Under the "soft borders" scheme are included measures like the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad, the proposal for a Khokhrapar -Munnabao rail service, and in general expanding the scope for the movement of people and goods across the borders. The implication is that more movement across the borders will obviate the need to come up with a solution to the status and future of Kashmir. This rosy vision of "soft borders" flies in the face of the hard realities on the ground. To present a good picture in front of the cameras, the soldiers and officers at the border checkposts were shown warmly welcoming and sending off the passengers on the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus. However, all the smiles could not hide the tension and sizeable military bandobast that prevails in Jammu & Kashmir. The same troops are deployed in every nook and corner of the state, enforcing an iron military occupation, carrying out combing raids, harassing ordinary men and women, old people and children, and shooting down "militants" in cold blood. There has not been even the slightest reduction in the Indian military occupation of Jammu & Kashmir in all the run-up to the inauguration of the bus service and Musharraf's visit. Neither has there been any let-up in the overall militarization on the part of the Indian and Pakistani states. In order to justify the policy of "soft borders" with Pakistan, Manmohan Singh points to the "success" of this policy in helping to normalize relations with China. But the two situations are entirely different. The issue jeopardizing peace between India and Pakistan is not some sparsely inhabited territory or icy wastelands, but the unfulfilled national aspirations and decades-old suffering of the people of Kashmir, who have been held prisoner to the territorial and strategic ambitions of the ruling classes of India and Pakistan. The peoples of India and Pakistan, and of Jammu & Kashmir, long to live in peace and friendship with each other. This overpowering sentiment has become apparent in so many ways in recent times. That is why the politicians and officials in India and Pakistan are forced to sing their song about peace being irreversible. But unless things change substantially on the ground, it would be dangerous for the peoples to be lulled to sleep. The territorial and political ambitions of the Indian and Pakistani ruling classes, egged on by imperialism, cannot be wished away. These are the main roadblocks to lasting peace, and that is why the cause of peace cannot be left in the hands of these same ruling classes and their representatives. The working class and people of India and Pakistan and Kashmir must get together and demand in one voice that all abuses of the rights and dignity of the Kashmiri people must cease; that killings and persecution of ordinary people under whatever pretext must stop; and that all military and paramilitary deployment in civilian areas must be ended forthwith. They must in addition demand that the rampant militarisation of the Indian and Pakistani states be rolled back, and the money thus saved be used for the wellbeing of the people. The question of the national rights and status of the Kashmiri people must be taken up for resolution seriously and without further delay, in accordance with the wishes of the people of Kashmir on both sides of the border, and the mechanisms to ascertain their wishes on this issue must be worked out. Only in this way can our peoples look forward with confidence to irreversible peace. |
|
Is Indo-Pak "Peace" Accompanied by Justice? Sir, I thank you for carrying my letter in a recent issue on PV on the matter of 'cricket diplomacy', which was written before the arrival of Mr. Pervez Musharraf, the President of Pakistan, in India. There have been widespread reports in the popular media on the visit, and it is said that there has been much progress in resolving the outstanding issues between Pakistan and India, and indeed a joint statement was presented at the end of what has effectively been a summit between Mr. Musharraf and Mr. Manmohan Singh. There has been a mood of euphoria associated with the 'irreversible peace' between the two countries. This euphoria has been not just in the official circles but between the fraternal peoples of the two countries. Nevertheless, there have not been any reports of such euphoria in Kashmir, where the peoples continue to live in a divided land. Some advances have been made by the Kashmiri people as well, in the restoration of a bus link and there is the hope that there will be a lull, if not a cessation of 'terrorist activity' in the Kashmir valley and other regions of the state of Jammu and Kashmir. Of the points in the joint statement one must take note of the one that says that terrorist events will not be allowed to play any role in the process of reconciliation between the two countries. One must also take note of the fact that there have been several agreements on trade and possible people to people contact, seen in the restoration of certain train and bus links. The international media have also taken note of these developments and have highlighted the statement of Mr. Musharraf that the world has changed after the events of 9/11 (September 11, 2001) in the context of the failure of the Agra summit of July 2001. He did not offer any further explanation of this pithy observation. There were no remarks either on the massive military deployment by India on the borders in December 2001 after the attack on the parliament, and the subsequent de-escalation of the border tension. Therefore the interested observer is left wondering what exactly could he have meant, and what exactly has changed. One thing that has certainly changed is that Pakistan now finds a great deal of activity on its western frontier, with the US invasion of Afghanistan and the concomitant problems there in the so-called tribal regions that run over the territories of its North-West Frontier Provinces and that of Afghanistan, and also the massive military deployment of the USA in Iraq. Pakistan has been reined in as the important player in the so-called 'war on terror', and will also find that sooner or later it will have to get involved directly in the affairs of Iraq. Not insignificant is the fact that the special envoy to Iraq of the UN General Secretary, is Mr. Asghar Jehangir Qazi, an important figure of the Pakistani ruling elite. Therefore, there can be little doubt that Pakistan ruling circles need to disengage themselves from their India and Kashmir 'obsession'. The Indian elite have also benefited from the peace moves, as it now becomes possible for India to claim a `moral victory' in its recalcitrant position vis a vis the Kashmir issue. By going back essentially to the tenets of the Shimla agreement, India can now claim victory in its stated position that the problems of Kashmir since 1989 are simply those that were generated by Pakistan backed militants, and sweep the problem of self-determination of Kashmir, and those of the other nations that constitute the country of India under the rug. It can claim now that its policies of deploying vast numbers of security forces in troubled regions, passage of draconian laws, violation of human rights, suppression of national rights is thoroughly justified. In particular, it must be noted that one possible reason for the lack of euphoria amongst the people of Kashmir is that the word 'justice' which normally accompanies the word 'peace' has been totally absent both in the official pronouncements and in the media coverage. What do the present agreements mean for those who have been missing, and those who have been killed or maimed, in the sixteen year orgy of violence? Will there be investigations of crimes committed against the men and women of Kashmir? Will there be genuine redressal of their grievances? What lesson is to be drawn from these momentous events? One lesson is that the ruling elites of these lands can still not be trusted to ensure a secure future for the peoples of these lands. The very elites that plunged the lands into a bloodbath less than 60 years ago are today the paragons of peace and virtue. These are the very elites that can boast of presiding over lands that have the largest numbers of poor, hungry and destitute, and over lands where the peoples seem to have no future at all. The period of peace that is being ushered in should be one for consolidation of all the progressive forces who will spell out a future for the peoples of these lands that is secure, free of the threat of hunger, disease, homelessness and war. A. Narayan, Bangalore |
|
Published by the Communist Ghadar Party of India Send Email to People's Voice Return to People's Voice Index: 
|