Pakistan after the earthquake
Hundreds of thousands of people are yet to receive
help after the devastating earthquake hit Pakistan and Kashmir on 8
October. The reason? Corruption, repression and political manoeuvring.
KHALID BHATTI, of the Socialist Movement Pakistan (part of the Committee
for a Workers’ International), reports on the role of the
military-backed regime and the right-wing nationalist and religious
forces which are vying for influence.
THE DEVASTATING earthquake caused widespread
destruction in the northern areas of Pakistan and Pakistani occupied
Kashmir (POK) on 8 October. The official death toll is 85,000 and more
than 100,000 injured. According to World Bank and ADB reports, more than
7,000 schools and 3,000 health clinics have been destroyed. Hundreds of
thousands of people are still living in the mountains without proper
shelter in freezing, sub-zero temperatures. The military-led government
failed miserably to provide shelter and basic needs to the affected
people.
This earthquake has had a huge effect on the
consciousness of the working people in Pakistan. They are thinking quite
differently after experiencing the tremors. The devastation in the
northern part of the country and POK has shocked the working masses.
There are many questions under discussion about the relief and
reconstruction work of the government, the role of the military and the
question of resources.
The most important and widely discussed question is
that of defence expenditure and the role of the military in relief work.
It is the first time that the general public is questioning the high
levels of defence spending. The ruling elite has spent billions of
dollars on the military, while social spending has been drastically
reduced. The ruling elite – which is dominated by the generals – has
promoted the myth that a strong military means a strong Pakistan, so the
working masses should make sacrifices to strengthen national security.
The generals pile up the weapons stocks in the name of national
security. Respective governments completely ignored the social sector
and big cuts were made in education and health. There has been hardly
any spending on fire brigade and rescue services.
The main argument was that these services were no
longer required in the presence of the military. But this myth has been
completely exposed in this disaster. The slow and casual response from
the military establishment gave the lie to the propaganda claim of the
last two decades that the military is the only efficient and reliable
institution in the country and that people should blindly trust the
generals in every situation. This rosy image has not only faded but has
been badly damaged.
The priorities of the generals are also under attack
because, for the first time, the infrastructure of the military has also
been exposed. People were shocked to hear that military aviation has
only 26 helicopters, not enough to evacuate a village. Yet the country
spends $3.5 billion on defence every year. Pakistan is a nuclear power
but has no modern equipment to rescue people trapped under rubble. There
are growing demands for a civilian rescue and relief organisation with
all modern facilities and instruments. It will not be easy for the
government to just ignore this demand and continue with its old policy
of blind trust in generals.
The question of resources
THE ISSUE OF resources for reconstruction and
rehabilitation has become the most contentious. General Pervez Musharraf
has flatly refused to cut the defence budget, but there is a growing
demand that he does so. It is not only the intellectuals which are
involved, but ordinary working-class people are also taking a keen
interest in this debate. The Musharraf regime is saying that it needs
$5.2 billion for the rehabilitation and reconstruction of the affected
areas. The government is also crying that it has no resources and needs
help from the so-called ‘international community’.
At the same time, the government is going ahead with
defence deals and other military expenditure. The government is ready to
spend $1 billion for the purchase of six aircraft from a Swedish
company. The deal to purchase 75 F-16 fighter planes from American
company, Lockhead Martin, worth billions of dollars, is still going on.
The government will pay the first instalment of $1.2 billion in a couple
of months. The construction of new General Headquarters (GHQ) in
Islamabad is also going ahead and will cost millions of dollars. If the
money for these three projects was given to rehabilitation work then the
government would not need any foreign assistance to help the affected
people!
There is no shortage of resources, the problem is
with the distribution of these resources. The question of the system is
vital in this regard. There is no possibility that under the present
capitalist system, this money will be spent on the needs of the working
people, because that is against the interests of the ruling elite.
Capitalism is a system based on profits not on needs. A handful of rich
people enjoy life at the cost of the suffering of millions of poor. The
interests of big business are more important than the lives of ordinary
working-class people. It is in the interests of big business and the
generals to spend more money on the piling up of weapons of mass
destruction than to spend it on the needs of the poor.
The overthrow of this rotten and repressive
capitalist system is necessary to improve the lives of working-class
people. Socialism is the only system which can improve and transform the
lives of the poor. A planned economy under the democratic control of the
working class will make the task of rehabilitation and reconstruction
much easier and faster. If the government stopped paying debts to
imperialist international financial institutions and countries, that
would provide enough resources for the rebuilding of schools, hospitals
and decent housing for all the working masses. The price of one F-16 is
enough to build 3,000 primary schools.
The pressure is mounting on the government to cancel
the deals to purchase the fighter aircraft and construct the new GHQ.
Socialist Movement Pakistan (SMP) has already launched the campaign to
stop these projects going ahead. This campaign has got a tremendous
response from ordinary working-class people. It clearly shows that
consciousness has changed significantly.
The working class showed clear mistrust of this
corrupt and inefficient system, as everyone was reluctant to give
donations to government. Working-class people donated generously but,
for the first time, they want to distribute the collected aid
themselves. This is a significant development. People collected the
stuff for affected people in every community but refused to hand it over
to government officials. The disillusionment and mistrust of this
corrupt and inefficient system has reached to the heights. Only the big
traders and capitalists give money to the government – to get more
concessions to increase profits and save taxes. The government was not
very happy with this situation and has tried to discourage working-class
people who want to go to the affected areas.
People are expressing this mistrust very openly:
hardly 7-9 % still have confidence in the government that there will be
no corruption in the relief funds. Any one journey on public transport
or one cup of tea at any public place will give the idea of how much
mistrust in the ruling elite exists in Pakistani society. BBC News
organised a survey before the earthquake asking how many really trust
the army, police and political parties in South Asia. The result from
Pakistan was shocking for the ruling elite: only 22 % said that they
trust the army, only 12 % said they trust the police.
There is widespread anger against the anti-working
class policies of the present regime. The price hike has already gone
out control, the inflation rate is 15%. The prices of all utilities have
doubled in the last two years. The government has given a free hand to
big business to make the maximum profits. There is no control over
prices. Transport fares have increased 50% in the last three months,
which means an increase of 380-450 rupees ($6-8) per month in the budget
of a poor worker. Poverty is on the rise. The neo-liberal policies of
the last two decades have made the lives of the working class miserable.
Ordinary families cannot afford decent food, housing, education and
health. All these basic needs have become luxuries for the working
class.
The earthquake has made people’s lives more
difficult. It is not only those living in affected areas who are
suffering but the whole working class of Pakistan is suffering from the
greed of big business.
Mullah/military alliance
THIS EARTHQUAKE HAS exposed the secret alliance and
close coordination between the military establishment and the mullahs.
The so-called war between Islamic armed groups and the government
disappeared soon after the disaster. All the banned groups are openly
operating in affected areas and everywhere in Pakistan. The ‘terrorists’
have become angels. These groups are working closely with the military.
The Pakistani media has launched a propaganda campaign in favour of
these armed groups. All the newspapers and TV channels are giving full
coverage to their relief activities.
The same media is completely ignoring the role the
trade unions and different left groups are playing in relief and
rehabilitation. The media is even ignoring the role of organisations
like the Edhi Foundation (the largest relief and welfare organisation in
Pakistan, well-respected by workers and poor people) because Maulana
Edhi has criticised the role of big business and is not closely linked
with the military establishment. It seems that the reactionary, extreme
right-wing section of the state has used this opportunity to strengthen
itself. This section is also behind the media campaign to promote
fundamentalism as an alternate to the corrupt, parasitic and inefficient
ruling elite. The ruling elite wants to keep the reactionary mullahs on
its side because it is frightened of a possible backlash from the
working class and rural poor.
Muthida Majlas-e-amal (MMA, an alliance of
right-wing Islamic parties) government in North-West Frontier Province (NWFP)
proved its inefficiency and incapability in the earthquake affected
areas. Now the mullahs once again want to enforce the Hibah Bill, which
gives the right to religious police to stop ‘anti-religious’ and
‘immoral’ activities. SMP calls it the ‘martial law of the mullahs’. The
Supreme Court already declared that the bill was against fundamental
human rights. SMP has pointed out several times the close relationship
between the military establishment and the mullahs. The open activities
of the fundamentalist armed groups pose a threat to the lives of radical
trade union and left activists, as these groups have a history of
physical attacks. Fundamentalist groups are preparing for the next
general elections, due in 2007. The military establishment is also using
these religious parties to balance the nationalist forces.
Sharp rise of nationalism
THE EARTHQUAKE HAS exposed the weak infrastructure
and backwardness of the northern areas, especially Kashmir and the
Hazara region. The people in Kashmir and Hazara are not satisfied with
the relief efforts of the military government. The militarisation of
relief and rehabilitation work has added insult to the injury. It is
most likely that there will be a sharp rise of nationalism in Kashmir,
which might be exploited by the ruling class to get support from the
working masses. The nationalist forces are not strong or organised
enough to cash in on this situation to muster support immediately.
Unfortunately, there is no working-class party in Kashmir to provide an
alternative to the masses, although the potential for this party does
exist.
The situation is no different in NWFP, Sindh and
Baluchistan provinces of Pakistan. Nationalism is on the rise in
Pakistan. The situation in Baluchistan is still tense, with violence and
state repression continuing to dominate politics. The nationalist
parties are making ground as fundamentalism is losing support in many
parts of this province. The situation is no different in NWFP, where
mullahs have ruled since 2002. The nationalist Awami National Party (ANP,
which promotes a Pashtun homeland) is making ground against the
religious parties.
The US regime is also interested to bring ANP back
into the provincial government in the coming elections, as it wants to
install secular Pashtun nationalists in NWFP, which borders Afghanistan.
This would boost the American ally, President Hamid Karzai, and Pashtun
nationalism in Afghanistan. The nationalist forces are trying to get
some ground in Sindh, as the Pakistan People’s Party has weakened in
last few years. The nationalists want a better deal with the generals to
get more shares in the plunder of resources for themselves.
One thing is quite clear: the military-dominated
establishment wants to use both fundamentalism and nationalism to keep
the status quo. Both these forces are reactionary and provide no
solution or alternative to the problems faced by the working class and
rural poor.
What is really needed in Pakistan is a party of the
working class with a clear socialist programme. All the main capitalist,
nationalist and religious parties are serving and protecting the
interests of big business and the military establishment. The working
class needs a party which can fight for the rights and interests of the
working masses. A mass party of the working class will be able to end
the domination of the military in economy and politics.
Socialist Movement Pakistan is involved in this
struggle to form a strong revolutionary party of the working class. The
rapid growth of SMP shows the potential that exists. Many trade unions
and political activists are discussing the formation of a new
working-class party with a socialist programme. SMP has already started
a discussion on this issue and is preparing to launch the campaign for
its formation. This will be an important step in the struggle to
overthrow this rotten and repressive capitalist system, and to transform
the society on socialist lines. CWI will have to play a key role in this
struggle to liberate the millions of workers, peasants, unemployed,
youth, urban and rural poor, women and oppressed national and religious
minorities from the exploitation and shackles of capitalism and
feudalism.
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