Farooq Tariq

Call for a greater left unity in Pakistan

The following call for unity among left-wing forces was issued by Farooq Tariq, general secretary of the Labour Party Pakistan (LPP).

The mass movement in Pakistan - from nowhere to everywhere

On March 8, no-one in Pakistan would have thought a mass movement would erupt in the near future with the potential to overthrow the regime of general Pervez Musharraf. A day later, Musharraf suspended Supreme Court chief justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, with the illusion that nothing would happen and business would go on as usual.

'A movement to overthrow the military regime' in Pakistan

On March 17, 40 lawyers and at least 10 others were injured when police attacked a gathering of lawyers at the Lahore High Court called by the Lahore High Court Bar Association to discuss a response to the government’s suspension of Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry. On March 9, President Pervez Musharraf had declared Chaudhry as “non-functional”, which was viewed by many as part of an attempt to quell the judiciary. Lawyers have boycotted the courts and organised hunger strikes and other protests demanding Chaudhry’s reinstatement. A nationwide lawyers’ strike has been called for April 3. The following are excerpts from a March 22 statement by Labour Party Pakistan general secretary Farooq Tariq.

Pakistan: Aisha Amin - peace hero

Seventy-three-year-old Aisha Amin, a Labour Party Pakistan (LPP) activist from Shahdra Lahore, was declared dead three days after being listed as missing after the February 18 Delhi-Lahore train bomb blast.