FAROOQ TARIQ, 42, is general secretary of Jeddojuhd Inqilabi Tehrik (Revolutionary Struggle Movement), a left-wing organisation committed to the promotion of working-class politics and socialism in Pakistan. JIT was founded by the supporters of the magazine Mazdoor Jeddojuhd (Workers' Struggle) in 1994. Since then, it has become the largest left-wing organisation in Pakistan. Several national trade unions leaders are members of JIT. In May, JIT decided to move from a movement to a party. Tariq was interviewed for Green Left Weekly by NADEEM ANSARI.
Question: Please tell us briefly about left politics in Pakistan.
The history of the left movement in Pakistan is mainly based on Stalinist traditions. At present, there is no Communist Party. Remnants of the CP merged with another Stalinist party, Mazdoor Kissan Party (Workers and Peasants Party) and are now called Communist Mazdoor Kissan Party.
The CP was banned in 1952 after it was allegedly involved in a military coup. Most of its leaders were arrested and the rest went underground. The CP activists later began working in bourgeois parties.
They were always trying to find the progressive bourgeoisie that could fit their schema of a national democratic revolution or people's democratic revolution. But none of the sections of the ruling class were able to modernise society.
The left at present do not exist as a visible force. There are left personalities, but they have very limited followings. The left have lost their traditional base in the unions. We are sure new left forces will develop under the leadership of the JIT.
Question: Why have you formed a new party? What are the JIT's aims and objectives?
JIT is a relatively new force but is the fastest growing force on the left in Pakistan. In its first two years it joined around 1000 members. It has roots in all four provinces but is strongest in Punjab, particularly in Lahore.
JIT is affiliated with the Committee for a Workers' International. The relationship was built on political ideas developed during the establishment of the group in Europe in its exile period. It is part of CWI because we believe that socialism is internationalism or nothing. There is a need for strong international solidarity.
JIT has attracted the most combative strata of the working class. It has led strike movements, most recently the successful carpet workers' strike in Punjab. Now workers of this industry will get 2200 rupees per month instead of 1600.
The main objective is to organise masses of workers to lead a socialist revolution in Pakistan. We believe that there is no other way forward. To achieve the goal, JIT have taken part in elections, organised demonstrations and strikes and above all we have developed an organisation that can be the basis to promote class consciousness and a socialist understanding.
Question: Because of severe pressure from the IMF and the World Bank, the previous Pakistan People's Party government and the present government of Nawaz Sharif are committed to privatisation. What actions have you been taking against privatisation?
The Nawaz Sharif government is determined to sell most state assets, including Railways, Telecommunications, transport, WAPDA (Water and Power Development Authority), banks and other state owned institutions. The same path was taken by the previous Benazir Bhutto government.
On June 25, the Pakistan Workers Confederation built demonstrations in all the big cities against the proposed privatisation.
JIT has helped to revive Anti-Denationalisation Action Committees to fight against the privatisation.
There is tremendous hatred against this measure, because it has in the past only promoted unemployment and price hikes. It is sheer looting and plunder of state assets by the ruling class.
JIT supporters wrote the first pamphlet opposing privatisation in 1990. I was elected as the first secretary of the Anti-Denationalisation Action Committee. We were able to mobilise thousands for demonstrations.
But with the help of some corrupt labour leaders, the government was able to create a new committee. That committee made a notorious agreement with the previous Nawaz Sharif government called "golden handshake". The illusions in this scheme have been shattered now by the experiences of the workers involved.
The fight with the present government is expected to intensify, and we will make sure that the workers exercise their power of strike action. Without that there is no way forward. JIT has called on the Workers Confederation to organise a 24-hour general strike in the whole public sector.
Question: The government is welcoming foreign investment and is providing all kind of facilities to different multinational companies. As in other South Asian countries, these companies are trying to utilise the opportunity for cheap labour. What is the role of these companies in Pakistan?
There is very little foreign investment if you compare it with other South Asian countries. This is despite all sorts of concessions offered by successive governments to multinationals.
Nawaz Sharif is more worried about paying off the country's debts to IMF and World Bank than any of the country's internal priorities. The multinationals are not very keen to invest because of the corrupt nature of the regime, commissions, weak industrial infrastructure and unstable political set-up.
But multinationals like Unilever, Shell, Phillips, Reckitt and Colman have benefited with their low wages and inhuman working conditions. Most of the so-called foreign investment at present is coming through privatisations. Through this process, a neo-colonial situation is being imposed.
Some US companies have invested in the energy sector during Benazir Bhutto's government. They made very favourable contracts with the government even before any investment. They have bound the government to buy the electricity from them at much higher rates. There is tremendous hatred among workers against these foreign companies.
Question: The bourgeois parties like PPP, Jamat-i-Islami and Pakistan Muslim League are using youth and students for their own purposes. Unemployment and an uncertain future have meant that young people are pushed into their hands and are involved in ethnic and sectarian clashes. What kind of strategies do you have to convince young people of the need for socialism?
Youth in Pakistan have been hit hard. There are over 20 million unemployed youth at present, and over a million join the army of unemployed every year. The capitalist parties use youth for hooliganism and gangsterism. So do the religious parties.
The JIT has taken special initiatives to win the youth to socialism. Its supporters have organised an independent youth organisation called Young Fighters. In its three years of existence, YF has mobilised thousands of youth in anti-capitalist activities.
It organised a cycle march against unemployment, from Lahore to Islamabad in 1994. Sixty youth participated all the way to Islamabad, 300 kilometres, on cycles, distributing leaflets, and over 40 public meetings were organised on the way.
Since then it has organised issue-oriented campaigns and has become one of the major left youth organisations. In the future it is going to organise a YF national conference to discuss the strategy and tactics to win the youth to socialism.
Question: Please tell us about the condition of women in Pakistani society and how you are educating women about their rights and the need for socialism.
In the eyes of Pakistani law, a woman is only worth half of a man. Many of the so-called Islamic anti-woman laws imposed during the military regime of General Zia remain intact. Only a very few bourgeois women are members of the parliament. Women workers are particularly exploited, both at home and at work. Many women are killed in the name of Gairat, the feudal tradition of male chauvinism.
The JIT has organised a women's wing within the organisation. They are raising socialist consciousness among working-class women. They have also been involved in campaigns together with some progressive women's organisations.
Question: What are your other major political campaigns?
The JIT is involved basically in all class issues. It has organised several movements in the recent past.
When a newly privatised chemical factory gas truck exploded in one of the working-class districts in Lahore in January, the JIT immediately organised an action committee. At present our advocates are busy preparing a court case seeking compensation for the victims.
When a rickshaw driver was sentenced to death in a narcotics case, the JIT organised a campaign and analysed the decision from a class perspective. The rich are free for all sorts of smuggling, but when a poor rickshaw driver is arrested with hashish which did not belong to him, he is given a death sentence.
Question: What future do you see for the JIT?
The JIT national committee has organised 12 committees to discuss and plan the work of the party. JIT has agreed to change its name; the name will be announced in September after full consultation with all the members.
JIT will become a major force of the left in a short period. We are hopeful that with the help of international solidarity, JIT will be able to launch successful initiatives that can give confidence to the workers to stand on their own feet.