Lahore, 31^st August, 2014 – The Awami Workers Party (AWP) has reiterated its support to the fledgling parliamentary democratic system in the country, and once again rejected the dubious methods of the PTI and PAT, warning that the complete mayhem that has unfolded in front of the Parliament/PM House may descend into total breakdown of constitutional rule.

The AWP has said that democratic political forces have already been forced into retreat by the announcement on the night of August 28 that the military will act as the ‘facilitator’ between the government and the so-called ‘revolutionaries’, and the threat of a direct military intervention is growing greater by the day.

AWP president Abid Hasan Minto, chairman Fanoos Gujjar and general secretary Farooq Tariq emphasized the complete bankruptcy of ImranKhan and Tahir ul Qadri, who are holding the country hostage to their narrow agenda. The AWP leadership has said that only the left has a workable political programme for genuine democracy and fundamental change in Pakistan that is based on a substantive analysis of state and society, and which promises the elimination of all forms of oppression.Right-wing populists like Tahir ulQadri and Imran Khan havecheapened the idea of revolution in Pakistan by associating it with their elitist, megalomaniacal and reactionary politics.

These forces in Pakistan have, over the past few years, succeeded in hijacking the vocabulary of the Left to add a populist edge to their political project. Despite this, the AWP leaders said, it is clear that the right-wing remains a visibly anti-people force that was inextricably tied to the ideologies and hegemonic forces that perpetuate the system of material exploitation in Pakistan.

In this regard the AWP leadership congratulated the people of Pakistan inasmuch as trade unions, peasants organizations, women’s fronts, student groups and other organizations of working people have not been swayed by the hollow slogans of the PTI and PAT.

The AWP leadership asserted that any anti-democratic moves by the establishment under the guise of anti-government protests should be opposed at all costs. He said that despite the civilian government’s major economic and political failings, it retains a mandate to fulfil its term in office, and that all progressives must resist all attempts to either rollback the democratic system or institute a so-called ‘technocratic’ alternative as either would constitute a major victory for the forces of reaction in the country. He said that the right-wing continued to be an instrument of control of the establishment to be used whenever it felt its interests were threatened, and progressive forces must be wary of any such manufactured ‘revolutions’.

The AWP has reiterated that while right-wing populists used the language of the ‘poor’ and ‘oppressed’, none are truly committed to dismantling the structures of power in Pakistan, which are built around the alliance of the military establishment, imperialist powers, the religious right and propertied classes. They said that only the left bringstogether class, gender, ethnic and other questions and holds out the promise of genuine social transformation in the long-run. The AWP is committed to bringing together all left and progressive forces to build such a viable project of social transformation

Farooq Tariq
General Secretary
Awami Workers Party