In June Leon Trotsky’s My Life was published in Urdu in Pakistan. The
launching of the book was reported in the Pakistani daily paper the Daily
Dawn. This then sparked of a series of letters to the paper, both hostile
and friendly to Trotsky. All of them were published under the same title, “Romancing
Trotsky”, the title of the original review. Among the letters are replies from
Comrade Chaudhry Manzoor Ahmad (Member National Assembly) and Comrade Qamar uz
Zaman Kaira (Member National Assembly).
We are publishing this article written by Nusrat Javed which appeared in the Pakistani newspaper Daily Dawn on June 20, 2004 about Comrade Manzoor’s analysis of the recent budget and his speech which he made in the National Assembly.
A group of Left PPP MPs, among them Manzoor Ahmed, the President of the Pakistan
Trade Union Defence Campaign (PTUDC), have presented a bill with amendments
to the draconian anti-working class IRO-2002. Among these is the call for the
right to strike of workers of public utility services to be restored and labour
courts to be empowered to reinstate sacked workers in their services with all
benefits and facilities.
The recent sacking of the Pakistani Prime Minister Zafarullah Jamali by the
Military dominated establishment has been met by some with bewilderment. But a
closer look reveals the serious divisions that have opened up within the
Pakistani ruling class, and more importantly the seeting anger of the masses who
look with disgust on the whole rotten system. The situation is becoming
explosive.
The ruling class is planning to privatize the Pakistan Telecommunication
Corporation Ltd. (PTCL). Thousands of workers will be thrown out without any
notice or benefits from this institution. To achieve this goal the regime has
announced a referendum. They tried their best to use their pocket union to win
the referendum, but the workers of PTCL revolted against these policies through
a ballot and the Pakistan Telecom Employees Union won the referendum due to
their radical program.