Dear comrades,
This is an appeal we have just received from Pakistan regarding the arrest of a well-known leader of the left-wing of the Pakistan People's Party. We appeal to activists all over the world to send letters of solidarity and demand from the Pakistani government the immediate release of Mr Abbas.
In Defence of Marxism web site
September, 12th 2000
Dear comrades,
Red salute,
It is quarter past three in the morning. We just had a phone call from the wife of Ghulam Abbas the ex. minister of Punjab and member of parliament and she told me that the police raided their house and arrested her husband. He has been taken to an unknown place of custody. This has been the consequence of the speech delivered by Ghulam Abbas at a PPP convention the day before. In this speech he has taken a very left wing position and had attacked the military regime from a revolutionary point of view. This convention was attended by more than ten thousand people. The speeches were very dormant and the PPP leadership tried to subdue the workers but the pressure at the meeting forced the PPP bureaucracy to allow comrade Abbas to speak and he made an historic speech attacking the present regime, the compromising policies of PPP leadership and called for a Socialist revolution. This made a big impact on the workers and totally destroyed the plans and strategy of the PPP leadership to defuse and demoralize the radicalizing PPP activists and workers. This is the first serious attack by the regime against the left. Abbas was emerging as a most vocal, fire brand and popular leader of the left within the PPP. He was also becoming a challenge to the PPP leadership on the basis of socialist ideas. In the convention where he spoke he had an electrifying effect. The speech of comrade Abbas put the last nail and the convention ended with the opposite impact what the PPP leadership had intended.
An international compaign should be launched on this issue as comrade Abass is a rising force of the left within the PPP. He has history of struggle against the military dictatorships and went through arrests and tortures. He was leader of student movement in the 1968-69 revolution and he fought against the military dictatorships of Ayub Khan, Yahya Khan and Zia-ul Huq. During the regime of general Zia-ul Haq, he was tortured in the notorious Shahi Fort Lahore as result of which he developed a permanent disability in his back bone. He contested and won elections for the Punjab assembly on a PPP ticket.
The address and phone no. of Abbas's wife is:
Mrs. Ghulam Abbas
72\G block, Model town,
Lahore,
Pakistan.
Ph: +92 42 5884872
The protest messages should be sent to:
Chief Executive of Pakistan,
General Pervaiz Musharaf,
CE secretariat Islamabad,
Pakistan
email: CE@pak.gov.pk
and
General Mohammad Safdar
Governor of Punjab,
Governor's house,
Mall road,
Lahore,
Pakistan.
fax + 92 42 9200077
With revolutionary greetings,
Pakistan Trade Union Defence Campaign
(NOTE: Copies of all messages should be sent by email to: PTUDC@socappeal.easynet.co.uk)