In a Taliban dominated area of Pakistan a Marxist lawyer has defeated the candidate of the Islamic fundamentalists. In spite of a Fatwa being issued against him, comrade Ahad stood firmly on the ideas of revolutionary socialism and won the position of President of the Malakand District Bar Association.

The Annual convention of Unemployed Youth Movement, BNT (Berozgar Naujawan Tehreek), was held on Sunday, January 17, 2010, in which 70 youngsters from all over the district participated with full devotion and revolutionary enthusiasm.

As a result of the great struggle and pressure of PTCL workers, a referendum is being conducted. The management wants to use this referendum to ensnare and divide the workers, but the workers have to use this democratic process to organize and unite in the struggle for their rights. If the privatization of PTCL (Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited) is retracted then workers from all over the country will follow their footsteps and end privatizations in their own institutions. We publish here a leaflet by the PTUDC which was distributed throughout Pakistan.

The crisis in Pakistan is becoming more complex and severe. Corruption is not the cause of failure of this system, rather it is the fundamental necessity and creation of this system. The class contradictions are also expressing itself in the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party. The country is moving to an inevitable social explosion.

The Editor of the Asian Marxist Review comments on the growing turmoil in South Asia, the Iranian revolution, the tensions in Israel/Palestine and highlights how all this is inevitably preparing the ground for a resurgence of class struggle.

The battle for universal health access for every Pakistani can only be won through joining it with the struggle for a socialist transformation of the society. So it is time for the doctors and nurses to join the struggle because now it’s the struggle to save the medical and healthcare system as well.

After years of military dictatorships followed by sham democracy, the situation in Pakistan has reached such a point that the masses are yearning for radical change. Their suffering is immense as the people at the top continue to enrich themselves at the expensive of the workers and peasants, collaborating with imperialism as it rides rough-shod over the people of Pakistan. Everything is moving to an inevitable revolutionary explosion.

The western military presence in Afghanistan is presented as a means of pushing the country towards “democracy” and “progress”. Nothing could be further from the truth! The elections earlier this year were a sham. The system being propped up by western troops is utterly corrupt. Here an Afghan reader of our site comments on the situation.

With the latest news of the 100th death this year of a British soldier in Afghanistan, this imperialist adventure is getting more and more unpopular. In an article published in the current issue of Socialist Appeal published at the end of November, Rob Sewell looks at the latest situation and its background of a war that can never deliver social and economic progress to the Afghan people.

The Canadian occupation of Afghanistan is on its last legs. Richard Colvin’s testimony, admitting that Canadian soldiers were complicit in the torture of prisoners, is the finishing touch.

The Unemployment Youth Movement (BNT) was recently set up in the district of Rahim Yar Khan in Pakistan. Here we provide a brief report.

Over the weekend the Pakistani Marxists held a cadre school as part of their work of building the framework of the Marxist Tendency in Pakistan. Here we provide a brief report and some pictures.

Bolshevik day, as the anniversary of the Russian revolution is known here, was celebrated with great enthusiasm across Pakistan in 30 cities in which large numbers of workers, peasants and youth participated. Here we provide reports and pictures sent in by the comrades locally.

Workers at the Steel Mills in Karachi have taken up the struggle once again for decent wages and proper contracts for the daily wage workers. In spite of attempts to stifle their struggle, the workers are determined to achieve their demands.

More than 300 desperate Tamil refugees are being refused asylum by the Australian authorities, with the connivance of the Indonesian authorities. While governments leave these people in a terrible state, workers in Australia and Indonesia have expressed support and solidarity. Join them!