Pakistan

Pakistan’s Supreme Court ruled unanimously on July 28 to disqualify the country’s prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, from office in relation to the exposure of secret assets as part of the Panama Papers leaks.

The court has referred Sharif’s case to the country's top anti-corruption authority for an investigation into his family's offshore assets. His party, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, will have to appoint an interim prime minister to serve until the next election, due midway through next year.

For the better part of six years, Baba Jan, a founding member and activist of the left-wing Awami Workers Party (AWP) in the Pakistani-occupied disputed territory of Gilgit-Baltistan, has been behind bars on a life sentence for ‘terrorism’ charges. His crime? Demanding rights for Hunza’s poor and displaced.

Thwe two statements below were released by the socialist Awami Workers Party (AWP) in response to the February 16 terrorist attack on the Lal Shehbaz Qalandar shrine in Sehwan, Sindh and the February 13 terrorist attack in Lahore. They are reposted from Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal.

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The following statement was released on November 11 by Farooq Tariq, spokesperson for the Awami Workers Party in Pakistan.

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On the night of November 3, the Turkish police detained Selahattin Demirtaş and Figen Yüksekdağ – the co-chairs of the People’s Democratic Party (HDP) – alongside several other Members of Parliament who were democratically voted in with over 5 million votes in the last parliamentary election.

Pakistan's south-western province of Balochistan is the site of an intense struggle for self-determination against the federal government.

Despite the province being rich in natural resources, the Baloch majority ethnic group remains economically marginalised and receives little benefit from development in region.

In its efforts to counter the Baloch struggle, the Pakistani state has resorted over the years to violent repression and indiscriminate warfare.

Pakistani lawyers take to the streets to condemn the Quetta bombing. The left-wing Awami Workers Party (AWP) has condemned the deadly bombing of the Civil Hospital in Quetta on August 8, in which more than 97 people lost their lives. Most victims were lawyers gathered for the funeral of recently-assassinated Balochistan Bar Association President Anwar Kasi.

In the dead of night on July 17, police vans snaked their way into Chak 4-L village in Okara City in Punjab province. At about 2am, several dozen police officers forced entry into the house of Mehr Abdul Jabbar, younger brother of jailed peasant leader Mehr Abdul Sattar. They broke down the front door and opened fire indiscriminately, shattering cupboards and other household items. They departed 15 minutes later but left behind a cloud of uncertainty and fear that spread among the villagers jolted awake by the gunfire.