Several tragic accidents have taken place at the Delhi Metro railway building site, involving the death of a number of workers. This has now turned into a full-scale scandal, revealing collusion, in cutting corners and turning a blind eye to the application of safety regulations, between government officials and the companies involved. It reveals how barbaric the capitalist system is.

A case of rape and murder of two young women in the Kashmiri town of Shopian at the hands of a group of police officers, and the subsequent attempted cover-up has brought to the surface the simmering anger of the masses.

The present crisis of capitalism is creating appalling conditions for workers in countries like Bangladesh. What happened recently in the textile industry is symptomatic. After months of not receiving any wages, workers have gone on the warpath, and in desperation have taken extreme measures.

The war in Afghanistan has re-emerged in the headlines as casualty rates for American and British forces have now reached their highest since the invasion of Afghanistan. Already more than one hundred American troops have been killed since the beginning of this year alone, whilst in Britain the news has been dominated by the deaths of eight soldiers who were killed in twenty four hours over the weekend.

A bitter struggle has broken out at the Merck Marker in Quetta, Pakistan. Workers demanding decent wages and conditions have come up against brutal repression, arrests and beatings. We are appealing for solidarity from workers of all countries.

We received this interesting comment on the recent brutal crushing of the Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka. It highlights the responsibilities firstly of the Sri Lankan ruling elite and its imperialist backers, but also of the leaders of the labour movement in failing to offer an alternative in the past, and of the LTTE leaders, who organised their war from a purely nationalist point of view, offering nothing concrete to the workers and peasants.

The latest edition of the Asian Marxist Review is shortly coming out. Here we provide the editorial statement, which outlines the plight of the workers and poor of the South Asian subcontinent, but also points to the movement in Iran as confirmation of the enormous potential for revolt among the masses.

Workers at the Pak Arab Refinery have been summarily dismissed. The PTUDC has intervend to organise the workers and organise the fightback.

Two comrades of the PTUDC who were illegally arrested on June 22 while distributing leaflets outside the Karachi Pakistan Steel plant were released on June 24. The PTUDC had organised beforehand protests in several cities demanding the release of the comrades, as for example in front of the Hyderabad Press Club. Four comrades had also been on hunger strike in Sukkur.

Two comrades of the PTUDC have been illegally arrested whilst distributing leaflets outside the Karachi Pakistan Steel plant. They have been beaten and subjected to torture by security personnel and are currently being held at a police station. The PTUDC are demanding their release and asking for solidarity from workers around the world.

The Pakistan Trade Union Defence Campaign held a conference against privatisation on 31 May at the Karachi Press Club. Workers and trade union leaders who had come from industrial areas of Karachi and other cities of Sindh attended the conference in big numbers.

Activities in the Rangmala camp are continuing with revolutionary zeal and fervor. The committees established for different tasks are working to help the people in the camp, who are living in the most dangerous conditions.

On April 9 of this year Indonesia held its fourth 'democratic' elections since its independence in 1945. What has been lacking throughout this period had been a genuine labour movement based mass workers' party. This has coloured debate on the left including the question of "boycott". What is required is a return to Lenin and a study of how he dealt with the question in the Tsarist Duma.

After years of guerrilla struggle the Nepalese Maoists agreed to put down their arms, become a parliamentary party, and eventually enter government. Now they have been manoeuvred out of office and there is an urgent need to draw up a balance sheet and decide which way they are going to go.

We have received this interesting letter from a reader in Nepal who highlights the shortcomings of the Prachanda-led Maoists in the light of the latter’s resignation from government.