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Political parties demand debt cancellation, resolve to launch mass
movement to refuse debt
Multi Party Conference against debt repayments
A Multiple Party Conference in Lahore decided to campaign against
servicing to the masses and organize three rallies in Lahore, Karachi
and Islamabad. The first rally will be organized on 2nd September in
Islamabad. Senator Hasil Bezinjo vowed to take the issue to the Senate
and present a resolution to demand that government must refuse to pay
the foreign debt. Labour Relief Campaign in association with Oxfam
Pakistan called a multi party conference on Sunday 29th August
in Lahore chaired by Aman Kariaper and Ammar Ali Jan. The conference was
called to discuss the issue of repayments of the debts in thepost-flood
scenario. The conference took place at Hotel Ambassador Lahore. Twenty-eight political
parties, trade unions, social movements and professional associations were invited to present their views (listed at end).
The conference began with Khaliq Shah, focal
person of the Campaign for the Abolition of Third World Debt, who argued
that there are strong legal, ethical and political arguments
for immediate suspension of debt servicing and refusal of further loans.
He also presented historical precedents from Latina America and Africa
to support his argument. Debt, in his view, is not merely a financial
but also a political issue. He pointed out that debt incurred by dictators is considered
under international law to be illegitimate debt and its burden should
not be borne by future generations. According to some estimates, he claimed, Pakistan’s debt has
already been paid back at least eight times over. Hence, debt is an
integral part of the system of re-colonization prevalent in the Third
World.
Aasim Sajjad Akhtar, academic,
writer and activist of the Workers Party Pakistan, pointed out that the
debt re-scheduling touted by the previous dictator as his big success in
2008 are going to fall due in 2005 and this risked taking our debt as a
percentage of GDP to more than 70%, thus approaching the 80% limit
recognized by the World Bank as being unsustainable. He remarked that his group’s research indicated that up to 80% of
Pakistan’s debt was incurred during dictatorial regimes. Elaborating on
the political aspects of the campaign, Akhtar suggested questioning the
rationale of the heavy military budget, which, even in this time of
acute crisis, is not being reviewed.
In the open discussion that followed, the
debt issue and its political ramifications were debated all the
delegates present. Jamil Omar, president of the Awami Jamhoori Forum,
suggested setting up a monitoring mechanism staffed and run by the
network of activist organized represented in the conference, to ensure
transparency and accountability in the spending of the funds freed up
from debt servicing. He was of the view that such an effort was an
ethical imperative subsequent to the cancelation of the debt.
Senator Hasil Bizenjo of the National Party fully
supported the idea of debt cancelation as a means of challenging the
prevalent political order and offered to present a motion in the Senate
to discuss the matter.
Advocate Abid Hassan Minto, president
of the Workers Party Pakistan, presented a detailed analysis of the
current socio-economic situation and suggested the formation of a
committee composed of like-minded political and social organizations
that would build a political movement based on the demands emerging from
the conference. 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.
Speakers said that 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.
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. [Soft
Break]The
conference will also look into the negative impact of climate change in
Pakistan.
Those who spoke at the conference include Raja Zulqernain
advocate general secretary Supreme Court Bar Association, Khurshid
Ahmad general secretary Pakistan Workers Confederation, Nasir Mansoor
deputy secretary National Trade Union Federation, Nazar Mengal of
Pakistan Trade Unions Defense Campaign, Karamat Ali director PILER, Lal
Khan editor Asian Marxist View, Ihsan Wain advocate general secretary
Awami National Party, Former Senator Tariq Choudry of Tehreek Insaaf,
Niasr Shah general secretary Labour Party Pakistan, M A Bhutta senior
vice president Saraiki National Party, Ilyas Khan secretary Peoples
Lawyers Forum, Manzoor Gilani president Istiqlal Party, Syeda Deep of
IPSS, I A Rehman general secretary Human Rights Commission of Pakistan,
Farooq Tariq coordinator Labour Relief Campaign, and Asad rehman of
Sungi Development Foundation.
The following points were included in the conference resolution:
· Immediate
suspension of repayment of external debt
· Countries and donor institutions wishing to
help Pakistan may do so in the forms of grants, not loans. No more new
loans.
· Military budget needs to be reviewed.
·Setting up of an audit commission to conduct a
public enquiry into Pakistan’s external debt. The commission should have
constitutional cover.
·Climate change reparations to be paid to
Pakistan by industrialized countries
·Federal
flood relief commission to be set up to oversee all relief,
rehabilitation and reconstruction work in the wake of the floods.
·To contact SAARC secretariat for assistance and
acceptance of Indian support without any conditions
It was decided in the conference to take the campaign to the
masses and organize rallies in Lahore, Islamabad & Karachi. The first
rally will be in Islamabad on Sept. 2, 2010.
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. National
Party
2. Workers
Party Pakistan
3. Istiqlal
Party
4. Awami
National Party
5. Saraiki
National Party
6. Labour
Party Pakistan
7. Pakistan
Tehreek-e-Insaf
8. National
Trade Union Federation
9. Pakistan
Trade Union Defense Campaign
10. Pakistan Workers Confederation
11. Joint
Action Committee for
People’s Rights
12. Supreme Court Bar Association
13. Pakistan Professors and Lecturers Association
14. Human Rights Commission of Pakistan
15. Khawateen Mahaz-e-Amal
16. Awami Jamhori Forum
17. South Asia Partnership (SAP)
18.
Sangi Development Foundation
19. Anjuman
Mozaarein-e-Punjab
20. Labour Qaumi Movement
21. People Lawyers Forum
22. Asian
Marxist Review
23. Pakistan
Institute of Labour & Research
24. Pakistan Peace Coalition
25.Institute of Peace and Secular Studies
26. Jamhoori Publications
27. Aasha
28. Women
Workers Helpline
Labour Relief Campaign
25 A Davis Road
042-36303808, 0300-8411945
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