We are appealing to you to help us in the campaign for the release of workers' leaders arrested on May Day in Pakistan. As you will be aware, a military dictatorship is presently in power in Pakistan. This military junta has tried to portray itself as a "soft" and only mildly repressive regime. They prefer to present themselves in this way in order to divert attention away from its repressive measures. On May Day of this year its true colours were shown. Workers and trade union leaders all over Pakistan were arrested for taking part in May Day rallies. Some have since been released, but many are still being held. Below we are sending you a report we received from the PTUDC (Pakistan Trade Union Defence Campaign) in Pakistan. Although many were arrested, we have the definite names of six workers' leaders, which you can see in the following reports.
The latest news we have from Pakistan about the trade union activists arrested on May Day is that all the comrades with the exception of two in Pashawar have been released on bail. The comrades in Peshawar are still being held, but pressure is being put on the authorities. Our campaign must now continue until ALL the arrested comrades are released. We are publishing a selection of the protest letters we have received.
The latest news we have from Pakistan about the trade union activists arrested on May Day is that all the comrades with the exception of two in Pashawar have been released on bail. The comrades in Peshawar are still being held, but pressure is being put on the authorities. Our campaign must now continue until ALL the arrested comrades are released. We are publishing a selection of the protest letters we have received.