Multi Party Conference
against debt repayments
Labour Relief
Campaign has called a multi party conference on Sunday 29th
August in Lahore. The conference will discuss the issue of repayments of
the debts and post flood scenario. The conference will take place at
Hotel Ambassador Lahore and will start at 2pm. Over 30 political
parties’ trade unions and social movements are being invited to present
their views.
The calling of the conference is part of
the campaign for non payments of the foreign debts. The strategies
adopted by the government of Pakistan to deal with the devastating
situation after the blood could bring even more miseries in longer
terms. The Government has been offered by World Bank to provide new loan
to Pakistan of $900 million and the Asian Development Bank’s
announcement for a $2 billion emergency loan. They are loans and not
aid. If accepted, these loans will lead an
already debt-trapped Pakistan to worst economic bewilderness.
An alternative
strategy offered by Labour relief Campaign is to demand Pakistan say no
to the repayments of the debts and stop raising more taxes and cuts in
development budget.
One of the
main aims of a proposed one day all parties conference will be to
discuss the issues of debt in detail and to raise understanding among
the political and social circles.
Instead of accepting new loan offers,
Pakistan must stand for the total and unconditional repudiation of its
foreign debt. Time and again, countries facing tragedies, like
Pakistan’s catastrophic flooding, are forced by International Financial
Institutions and donor countries to mortgage their future as they borrow
for relief and recovery efforts. Thus, the tragedy is magnified for
years to come.
The
recent floods represent the worst disaster in Pakistan’s history. The
country has been devastated from the Northern Areas to its Southern tip.
The State, stripped of its capacity to meet peoples’ needs by
neoliberalism and militarism alike, has been found wanting—both in its
longstanding failure to maintain existing infrastructure, and in its
response to the calamity.
The
grassroots relief efforts that have emerged across the country are
heartening, but a crisis of this magnitude can only be handled by an
institution with the resources and reach of the federal government. As
in all disasters, the assistance of the military will be necessary—but
this must be subject to civilian oversight, and must not be exploited to
glorify the Army at the expense of the civilian government. The
military's relative strength is a direct legacy of pro-Army federal
budgets.
Evidence is also emerging that links these
floods to rising atmospheric temperatures, and thus to climate change.
Three-quarters of all carbon emissions have been produced by only 20% of
the world’s population, and it is the poor in the developing world who
are bearing the brunt of the resulting environmental degradation. The
rich countries ought to offer urgent reparations to Pakistan as
compensation for suffering the costs of others’ industrialization.
The conference will also look into the
negative impact of climate change in Pakistan.
Finally, after the corruption that marked earthquake relief efforts, we
recognize the importance of the aid being distributed in a transparent
and democratic manner. We support the creation of a separate national
commission to oversee reconstruction spending, provided it fulfills its
mandate and is made entirely open to public scrutiny. All relevant
authorities, like the NDMA, should further be brought under civilian
control.
All
these issues will be open for discussion in the event to be organized on
Sunday 29th August 2010 at Hotel Ambassador Lahore. Political
parties except religious parties, main trade unions federations, social
and peasant movements, professional organizations and youth groups will
be invited to participate in this one day event. The conference will
discuss further actions of mass mobilization to trail its agreed agenda.
Labour Relief Campaign formed in 2005 after the devastating earthquake
in Pakistan is comprised of 8 organizations; they include National Trade
Union Federation, Women Workers Help Line, CADTM Pakistan, Labour Party
Pakistan, Progressive Youth Front, Pakistan For Palestine, Labour
Education Foundation and Pakistan Kissan Rabita Committee. LRC has been
busy in organizing and raising funds for the flood victims and also
launching a national campaign against payments of debts.
Following organization has been invited
to the event.
1 Pakistan
People’s Party
2 Pakistan
Muslim League (N)
3 Pakistan
Tehreek-e-Insaf
4 Workers
Party Pakistan
5 National
Party
6 Awami
National Party
7 Balochistan
National Party
8 Awami
Tehreek
9 Awami
Party
10 Sindh
Taraqi Pasand Party
11 Saraiki
National Party
12 Saraiki
Party
13 Saraiki
Look Party
14 National
Trade Union Federation
15 Pakistan
Trade Union Defense Campaign
16 Pakistan
Workers Confederation
17 Joint
Action Committee for People’s Rights
18 Peoples
Rights Movement
19 District
Bar Association
20 Lahore
High Court Bar Association
21 Supreme
Court Bar Association
22 Pakistan
Professors and Lecturers Association
23 Pakistan
Medical Association
24 Pakistan
Traders Association
25 Human
Rights Commission of Pakistan
26 Peoples
Labour Beauru
27 Khawateen
Mahaz-e-Amal
28 Federal
Union of Journalists
29 Punjab
Union of Journalists
30 Lahore
Press Club
31 Awami
Jamhori Forum
32 South
Asia Partnership (SAP)
33 OXFAM
Pakistan
34 Sangi
Development Foundation
35 Action
Aid Pakistan
