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Pakistan: The Prospects of leftunityPublished online: 02 Apr 2008.

To cite this article: (1978) Pakistan: The Prospects of left unity, Journal ofContemporary Asia, 8:4, 603-604, DOI: 10.1080/00472337885390671

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00472337885390671

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DOCUMENTS 605

Chinese residents in Vietnam. Thanks to the heroic resistance of the Cambodian people, the aggressive war launched by the Vietnamese authorit ies has been defeated.

Meanwhile, Vietnam's expansionist policy has been opposed by many countries, especially by South-East Asian countries. Vietnam has become more isolated than ever before throughout the world, especially among the people of Sou th -Eu t Asia. However, the more isolated they become and the greater defeats they suffer, the more desperate the Vietnamese authorit ies become in their struggle. Supported by Soviet social-imperialism, the Vietnamese authorities have intensified their acts o f aggression and expansion. By visiting several South-East Asian countries, Pham Van Dong is trying to extricate Vietnam from its isolation and create public opinion for a still larger a t tack on Cambodia.

Through Pham Van Dong's brief visit in our country, the people have come to know clearly that in order to accomplish the SRV's above-mentioned ulterior motives, which cannot bear the light of day, this Premier of a so-called socialist republic has done his very best to flatter our country 's reactionaries, gone so far as to make deals with the reactionaries at the expense of principle and has committed crimes of betrayal against the cause of national liberation. Pham Van Dong's actions have not only aroused the vigilance of the people of South-East Asia but will also be severely denounced and strongly opposed by all justice-loving people, including the people of Vietnam. Vietnam's expansionist policy and all the conspiracies employed by the Vietnamese authorities to extricate themselves from their pre- dicament will definitely end in shameful defeat.

Pakistan: The Prospects of left unity

Source'." Pakistan Commentary .- available from Nazir Ahmad, Othmarscher Kir- chenweg 105, 2000 Hamburg 50, W. Germany.

Over the past few months efforts have been made to forge some kind of unity amongst the various left groups and parties in Pakistan. The Left in Pakistan has not been able to project any kind of identi ty in national politics and therefore at the national level has had no role to play. Amongst these groups and parties a general consensus has emerged concerning the need for a democratic front to part icipate in national politics and build up an identi ty independent of the major existing bour- geois parties.

These efforts have become increasingly urgent in the face of the strengthening of fascist tendencies in the country as a whole. The main focus of these efforts has been to activate and broaden the Awami Jamhoori Ittehad (AJI) (People's Demo- cratic Alliance) an alliance which had originally been formed at tile time of the March ! 977 elections. The meeting of the AJ1 on September 15th was an a t tempt to involve all known left groups and personalities.

In order to understand the outcome of this meeting it is necessary to review the general situation of the Left in Pakistan at this time. Firstly, two questions are paramount in the circles of the Left. One concerns the question of conf ron ta t ion or no confrontat ion with tile Martial Law Regime and the other concerns the relationship with the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and the level of cooperat ion and alliance with it. Within the AJI some parties are advocating and practising no con-

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604 JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORAR Y ASIA

f rontat ion with the military regime while others are pursuing a line of total collab- orat ion with the PPP. The second aspect of the general si tuation of the Left relates to the Mazdoor Kissan Party (MKP) which has now split into four components . One faction led by Afzal Bangash has been admit ted in the AJI while two other factions led by Imtiaz Aiam and Sher All Bacha respectively have not been admit ted. The fourth faction led by Major lshaq (retd.) has shown no interest in the efforts at Left unity. The factional infighting between these groups has adversely affected the broadening of the left alliance.

The third aspect of the general si tuation within the Left is the opposi t ion of many of the Old Guard within the left towards Mairaj Muhammad Khan and his Qaumi Mahaz Azadi (QMA). Mairaj Muhammad Khan is probably the only Left politician who has a national image. He is a well known figure, a good ora tor and has a style and personality similar to Bhutto. Thus he is an obvious leadership figure in any left alliance and thus threatens the interests of many of the Old Guard' leadership. They are fearful and jealous of his larger populari ty.

The meeting of the Awarai Jamhoori lttehad (Peoples Democratic Alliance) on September 15th was at tended by 1 1 components and most of the proceedings were marked by a division into a majori ty of six components and a minori ty of five components . T h e majority consisted of the Mazdoor Kissan Party (Afzal Bangash group), Socialist party, Workers Party, A wami lamhuri Party, Mut tehida Mazdoor Ma/lis Areal and lnqlabi Proletari Party (Habib Jalib). The minori ty was composed of Sind Awami Tehrik (SAT), National Progressive Party (NPP), Pun/ab Jamhoori Front (PJF), Peoples Labour Front (PLF) and Mehnat Kash Mahaz (MKM). Other groups whose representatives came to Lahore but were not allowed to a t tend were Mairaj Muhammad Khan (QMA), Usman Baloch (Mutehida Mazdoor Federation) the factions of MKP led by lmtiaz Alam and Sher All Bacha and All Yawar of Nau/awan Mahaz (Karachi).

The min6ri ty components at tending the meeting demanded that their pending applications for membership be accepted and their representatives be allowed to participate in the meeting. They demanded that one of the two main offices be given to a Sindhi or Baluch and that the majori ty (6) components choose the President while the minori ty (5) components choose the secretary. On all of these issues the minority was, however, defeated and Afzal Bangash (MKP) was elected as President and Abid Hassan Minto (PSP)as Secretary. The demand of the minori ty that now after the election of office bearers the other groups wishing to join the alliance should be admit ted was also rejected.

The leadership of the Awami Jamhoori Ittehad represents an unprincipled alliance between Afzal Bangash, an advocate of a close alliance with PPP, and Abid Hassan Minto, who is opposed to any confrontat ion with the miltary regime. Thus the possibility of the Alliance playing a positive role and adopting a militant character oriented towards struggle appears limited. Neither has the Alliance the character of representative and united alliance of the Left in Pakistan. Rather it has adopted a rather exclusive character, which has inclined the excluded groups together with dissatisfied elements within the AJI, to establish another left alliance as an alternative to AJI.. Another major drawback of the A wamiJamhoori lttehad is the complete absence of part icipation of any left organisation rooted in Baluchis- tan and the absence of any progressive from Sind in a leadership posit ion within the Alliance. In the present situation where regional nationalist sentiment is strong, the absence of representatives of Sind and Baluchistan in leadership posit ions within the A J! militates against mass popular i ty for the Alliance in these provinces. Thus overall the situation of the left and in particular the nature of unity within the Left cannot give rise to significant expectat ions at the present time.

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