On July 04 in Gilgit, the Anti-Terrorism Court rejected the bail application of Ehsan Ali and other leaders of the Awami Action Committee.
Judicial proceedings have been deliberately prolonged for one and a half months. The false case against the leaders of the Awaami Action Committee has been dragged on using lame excuses with the collusion of the government’s lawyer, the judge, and the state authorities that control the puppet court. Today, in yet another oppressive move, bail was denied.
These leaders, including Ehsan Ali, are charged with terrorist activity merely for holding a protest for their rights. Some of the other leaders were arrested for holding a protest in Gilgit for the release of Ehsan Ali.
This clearly shows that raising your voice for your rights is considered to be ‘terrorism’ by the Pakistani state. Meanwhile, Defence Minister of Pakistan Khwaja Asif acknowledged in an interview in May that the Pakistani state has supported terrorism in past decades and has done the dirty work for US imperialism and other western powers.
These terrorists and their backers still roam this country freely without any consequences, while those who raise their voices against any injustices or for the rights of oppressed people are charged with terrorism.
This exposes the brutal character of this state and the rotten ruling class which has made the lives of the people of this country a living hell. Some sections of the state are still involved in terrorist activities, whilst army operations are occasionally launched against this terrorism. Whilst this cat and mouse game has continued to be played, despite several army operations this terrorism continues to spread, showing not only the failure of the state authorities but also the collusion of sections of the state with terrorists.
Many generals and politicians have earned huge fortunes from the business of terrorism, while army operations against terrorism have also enriched the coffers of many generals and politicians. It is the people of these areas that have suffered. Thousands have lost their lives while millions have lost their livelihoods.
On the other hand, laws and special courts against terrorism are used to oppress the political activists fighting against injustice and raising demands for basic rights. There is a history spanning many decades in which trade union leaders, left-wing activists and political workers have been charged with terrorism and sent to prison for many months and years just for organising a strike or a protest against the ruling class.
These laws and courts have been unable to rid the country of the menace of terrorism. In fact, the whole state apparatus has failed to provide security to the people of this country. On the other hand, the police and other departments of the state have used these laws to crush mass movements and torture political activists.
Similar oppressive laws are being passed regularly as the attacks of the ruling class on the livelihoods of the people of this country continue. The recent PECA law gagging social media is one of them. The new 26th amendment to the Constitution passed by parliament places unprecedented control on the judiciary by the generals.
Meanwhile, the ruling class has imposed new taxes on the working class and is extracting loot and plunder from the last drop of their blood and sweat as dictated by the IMF and the World Bank. Unemployment is rising, inflation, price hikes and artificial shortages of essential items have reached unprecedented levels. Meanwhile, the loot and plunder of the country’s resources by corrupt generals, politicians, bankers and capitalists has reached levels never seen before.
Pakistan is a country where the rich pay negligible taxes while more than three-quarters of the revenue is generated through indirect taxation mainly targeting the working class. Recent months and years have seen a long list of attacks on the working class. They have been met by huge protests, especially by workers in the public sector.
At the same time, attacks on oppressed nationalities by the Pakistani state have also reached new levels. Historic mass movements among many oppressed nationalities have threatened the rule of this brutal state and the state authorities are using every repressive measure to crush them.
Comrade Ehsan Ali
In Gilgit Baltistan, this is also the case, where in February last year, the Awami Action Committee (AAC) under the leadership of Ehsan Ali achieved marvellous victories. It was able to bring the ruling class to its knees, forcing them to accept all the demands of the AAC, including subsidised and good quality wheat flour, allocated budget for new hospitals and universities, provisions for unemployed youth.
The state authorities were taken aback by this movement, which had not only rejected all the established political parties including the PML(N), PPP and PTI, but also overcame the sectarian divisions of Shia and Sunni, and other local issues, and brought all the masses onto a single platform to snatch their rights from the jaws of this brutal ruling class.
The ruling class started manoeuvring against this movement ever since. Ehsan Ali was put on the notorious Fourth Schedule, which is for terrorists and banned terrorist organisations. Due to the pressure of the movement, however, they were not able to act last year but were biding their time.
Meanwhile, the AAC continued to organise itself and extend its structures at the grassroots level. Ehsan Ali was actively involved in it and many youngsters were joining him in these efforts. His meetings were being organised in several districts of Gilgit Baltistan.
Meanwhile, Ehsan Ali and his comrades openly put forward communist ideas and were making efforts to build the Inqalabi Communist Party (RCP) in Gilgit Baltistan. For this purpose, a Communist School was also organised in the Gilgit Press Club, in which youngsters and workers participated, discussing topics like ‘What is communism?’, and ‘How the communists see the world situation’.
Membership of the RCP was also rising and more meetings were being organised among the youth, threatening the parties of the ruling class who were afraid of the revolutionary ideas of genuine communism.
Another historic step taken by Ehsan Ali was to participate as a chief guest in a mass meeting in Rawlakot, in ‘Azad’ Jammu Kashmir (AJK) controlled by Pakistan. This mass meeting of thousands of people was organised by the Awami Action Committee of Kashmir to commemorate their historic success in achieving their demands for an enormous reduction in electricity prices and the provision of subsidised wheat flour, among other things.
In this movement in AJK, tens of thousands participated and marched towards its capital in Muzaffarabad in July last year to press for their demands. This movement was also brutally attacked, and three activists were killed by the Pakistani state. A few months later, a meeting was organised to pay tribute to these martyrs. Ehsan Ali from Gilgit was invited as a chief guest and main speaker.
He got an overwhelming response from the audience there, and thousands of people stayed for many hours to wait for his speech, which was the last one. In his speech, Ehsan Ali highlighted the importance of uniting all the mass movements against the Pakistani ruling class and of bringing them onto one platform to wage a joint struggle for all their demands. He also emphasised the key role of the working class, which can play a decisive role in overthrowing this brutal system and state.
This huge step alone represented a big threat to the ruling class. They will do everything to keep these mass movements separate from each other, confined on nationalist lines and on local issues. They have used every manoeuvre to crush these movements. The most important has been to use tactics that divide these movements on local, sectarian and nationalist lines. The attempt by Ehsan Ali and the RCP to overcome these divisions and to forge unity on class lines is their biggest crime in the eyes of this ruling class. Still, they try to weaken this resolve.
Land reform and mineral rights bills
Meanwhile, the ruling class was planning to unleash more brutal attacks on the people of Gilgit Baltistan, including a land reform bill and a minerals bill. On the other hand, as the summer was approaching, the activities of AAC and RCP gained new momentum and meetings were being organised at a much more rapid pace. It was in these circumstances that the ruling class planned to pass the land reforms and minerals bill in the puppet assembly of Gilgit Baltistan.
In this situation, AAC announced a mass meeting on 25-26 May in Gilgit to oppose these laws. Their call was getting a huge response.
The land reform bill has given all the unregistered land of Gilgit Baltistan to the state authorities for loot and plunder, while the people who have lived in these areas for centuries have been denied their basic rights. Similarly, the minerals bill will give all the rights of the minerals to the state authorities, while local people will be denied not only their rights but will have to suffer from the catastrophic effects on the environment and their lives due to extensive mining.
In this situation, Ehsan Ali and other leaders of the AAC were arrested on 15 May so that they couldn’t organise this mass meeting opposing the land reform bill. After the arrests, there was an unprecedented attack on all political activists and activities, and cases of terrorism were being booked in their dozens in all districts.
Many activists who protested against these arrests were themselves arrested. Some young activists were severely tortured by the police and they were asked to give statements against Ehsan Ali and the AAC, linking them with a foreign-funded movement or stating that they are supported by India in order to sabotage the peace of society. However, despite extreme torture and threatening calls to their families, the rulers were not able to extract any such statements.
Similarly, the families of all the arrested leaders and other activities were threatened through phone calls and by other means in order to keep them away from any kind of agitation around this issue. In this atmosphere of fear and intimidation, the land reform bill was presented in the puppet assembly of Gilgit Baltistan where it was passed after very little noise.
All these measures have led to more disgust and hatred towards the ruling class and its institutions. There is a sentiment of rage and rebellion amongst the masses which can erupt in one way or the other in the coming period.
The trial of Ehsan Ali and other leaders of AAC is a mockery of justice and exposes the real character of the judicial system in Pakistan and Gilgit Baltistan. The judiciary in this country has always served the rulers in the most blatant and shameful way. It has a long history of servility to the rich while being arrogant, brutal and tyrannous for the poor. This was on full display in the procedure of this bail application as well. Similar results can be expected during the hearing of the appeal in the higher court.
A colonised region
The control of all the administration, judiciary and the puppet assembly is in the hands of the generals of Pakistan and all other departments have to obey their orders. Usually, an army officer, with the designation of sector commander, handles the affairs of this colonised region on behalf of the ruling class of Pakistan.
No judge, magistrate or police officer can contradict these orders. They have to obey them to the last detail. Similarly, the puppet chief minister, the assembly, and all the legislation are under the control of the army officers. These officers, along with the bureaucrats, judges and politicians in collusion with big business, are involved in massive corruption and the loot and plunder of the resources of this beautiful and resource-rich region. Meanwhile, ordinary people continue to live in extreme poverty, unemployment and misery.
Whether it is the cutting of forests and the smuggling of timber at an accelerated rate, or the loot of minerals, or their cut in border trade with China, the officers and the ruling class have used every means to rob this area and are always finding new methods to intensify this looting. Any voice raised against their behaviour is crushed with the full force of the state and is labelled as unpatriotic and anti-national.
This has infuriated the peaceful and nature-loving people of Gilgit Baltistan. They have risen time and again against these injustices. On many occasions, their leaders have betrayed them and sometimes the ruling class has been successful in driving a wedge between the masses themselves on sectarian or other lines. But this time, they are learning from their past experiences, but they also now have a leadership which they can trust and rely on in the most difficult conditions.
Gilgit Baltistan is a beautiful area with mountains, lakes, forests and even a desert, in which the people of the region have lived for centuries. This region is a melting point of many cultures and languages, which makes it rich in diversity and beauty.
Three mountain ranges meet in this region and enhance the beauty of its landscape. The Himalayas, Karakoram and the Hindu Kush mountain ranges are the cradle of many different cultures and languages, and in their folds are contained the secrets of the development of human civilisation dating back to prehistoric times. Prehistoric art has been found on different mountains in this region, which deserve to be preserved and taken care of.
In Baltistan, the main spoken language is Balti, which is part of the Chinese language family. Skardu is the main city of Baltistan, while K-2, the second highest peak in the world is also to be found here, attracting mountaineers from all over the world. Many locals from this area also have a passion for mountaineering themselves and have set many records.
In Gilgit, the main local language is Shina, which is part of the Indo-Aryan family of languages. Although it is the capital of this region, there are many other languages spoken in this city, which is also the largest city of the region and is on the crossroads of border trade with China.
In Hunza, Burushaski is the main language, which is not part of any language family in the world and has quite distinct features. Lorimer wrote about Burushaski and translated some of the beautiful folk tales into English, bringing forward the mesmerising beauty of this region. Wakhi and other languages are also spoken in these areas.
Despite living at the crossroads of different civilisations, the people of this region have lived in peace over the centuries, but the loot and plunder of various imperialist powers, from the British to the current Pakistani state, has continued to subject these people to major attacks.
A plundered people
Under British imperialism, this region was controlled by the brutal prince or Maharaja of Kashmir, who used to extract huge amounts of taxes on the produce of the people living here. After the overthrow of British imperialism in the Indian subcontinent, the region of Kashmir was disputed between India and Pakistan.
These two warring states still dispute control of this region, and both have their imperialist interests in this region. There have been many wars between the two countries in which this region has also repeatedly been affected, especially during the Kargil War of 1999.
The Siachen glacier located in this region is also the highest warzone in the world where armies of both India and Pakistan continue to fight with each other. This situation has deeply affected the lives of the people here as this whole region looks like one large cantonment due to the heavy military presence and control by the army of every sphere of life.
Most recently, Chinese imperialism has invested huge amounts in Pakistan under the China Pakistan Economic Corridor plan, which is part of the Belt and Road initiative of the Chinese state. Under this project, many new infrastructure projects have been launched affecting the ecosystem of this region and increasing the loot and plunder of the resources of this land.
Now, US imperialism has also entered the fray, with a new minerals deal between Pakistan and the Trump administration under discussion, which will pave the way for more looting of the resources of this land.
This loot and plunder along with global climate change has affected this whole region. With the highest number of glaciers in the world outside the polar regions, it is facing catastrophic consequences from climate change. These glaciers are now melting at a higher speed than in the 1990s, resulting in more avalanches and creating new lakes that drown whole villages.
Likewise, flooding and other related phenomena are badly affecting the livelihoods of the people. Infrastructure is already very poor, with no electricity available for up to 20 hours during the winter season. Two years ago, many people died due to extremely low temperatures near Skardu as there were no proper medical facilities available there. Usually, most of the critical patients are referred to hospitals in Islamabad, which is hundreds of kilometres away and the road is largely blocked due to landslides.
In this situation, the people of this region want to rid themselves of this misery, looting and plundering. In fact, Gilgit Baltistan is not legally or officially part of Pakistan, and the Constitution of Pakistan and its laws are not applicable here. Nor does this region have any representation in the parliament of Pakistan.
It is like a colony of Pakistan, where the laws of Pakistan are applied through so-called executive orders. This is why sentiment against national oppression by Pakistan is very strong, and the ruling class uses more brutal measures to subjugate the people of this region.
In this situation, Ehsan Ali, who is also the leader of the RCP and a member of the Revolutionary Communist International (RCI), is advancing a revolutionary way out for the people of Gilgit Baltistan, a position which is being widely discussed and followed. The RCP in Gilgit Baltistan is not only raising its voice against the injustices of the state authorities but is putting forward the slogan of socialist revolution as a way to end the looting and plundering of imperialist powers, and to extract the people from the poverty and misery in which they are living despite the region’s abundant resources and natural wealth.
The RCP is putting forward the call for a general strike in Gilgit Baltistan to unite all the people against the oppressive rule of the imperialist powers. Already, there are protests and strikes of school teachers, traders involved in border trade, rescue workers, line department workers (public sector clerical staff), and several other sectors of workers. The leaders of these protests have also expressed their solidarity with the leaders of AAC, and have demanded their immediate release.
Meanwhile, AAC has also organised protests – including some protests by women – for the arrested leaders across all the districts of Gilgit Baltistan, despite threats and intimidation. Here, the RCP has put forward the idea that all the struggles should be united on one platform and should move forward towards an indefinite strike. This also means appealing to the working class of Pakistan to come out in a general strike for their own demands, as they are also suffering from the brutality of the same ruling class.
The only way forward for the working class is the overthrow of capitalism, which would end all kinds of oppression and exploitation and would free the people from the chains of national oppression, poverty, unemployment, hunger and disease.
Only under a socialist workers’ state could the national oppression of Gilgit Baltistan, and all other oppressed nationalities, end once and for all. The working class would also be emancipated from the drudgery of this system and would control all the resources for the benefit of all.
This is the programme and ideas which threaten the ruling class, and that is why they have unleashed attacks on the leaders of AAC and RCP. The ruling class have not only used the police; they have also used religious fundamentalists to malign these leaders on the basis of religion and similar issues. Also, tribal and other local issues are being used to divide this movement. But all these tactics have so far failed.
The mass movement is united and strong. The morale of the leaders is even higher than before, and they are determined to fight to the finish. The international solidarity campaign by the RCI has received an overwhelming response in Gilgit Baltistan. Many involved in the movement have thanked the RCI for raising the issues faced in this remote area with the whole world and for extending solidarity to the leaders of the AAC and the mass movement.
We are sure that this tyranny and brutality will not be able to hold back the wrath of the masses for long. Once the people of this region begin to move, these mountains of tyranny will crumble.
The movement in Gilgit Baltistan is an inspiration for the whole region. Just as the river waters flow from its mountains to irrigate all Pakistan, bringing life to these fertile lands, the movement erupting in Gilgit Baltistan will spread to the whole region, and will shake the foundations of the whole system.
We are destined to witness historic events, which we are quite sure will unfold in the coming period. Across Pakistan and in Gilgit Baltistan, the RCP is preparing for these events and will continue to do so, despite all attacks!
We will fight! We will win!
Long live the unity of the working class!
Down with Capitalism!
Long live Communism!
