The Unemployed Youth Movement (BNT) in Pakistan held a nationwide campaign of recruitment camps for unemployed youth. Huge numbers participated.

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.

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.

We provide an update on the situation in the relief camps set up in Swat by the PTUDC. In spite of threats from the authorities the comrades continue with their activities, of both aid and political education.

The plight of the people of war torn Swat/Malakand is a terrible one. They are the innocent victims of the conflict inside the Pakistani state and very little is being done by the authorities to help them. Many families are living out in the open. The PTUDC has organised volunteers and set up camps for those fleeing from the war zone. They need financial aid and we appeal to you to help.

The plight of people in the Swat/Malakand region of Pakistan has recently hit the headlines, presented as another example of Taliban activity. In reality sections of the state has long sponsored these activities. Now those who are suffering are the ordinary workers and peasants. The Marxists have set up camps to help in the relief operations, but what is ultimately required is the overthrow of the rotten regime itself.

In 42 towns and cities across Pakistan the PTUDC organised a series of rallies, marches and meetings to celebrate May Day. Here we provide a general report and plenty of pictures that provide flavour of the events that took place.

The workers at this important oil refinery in Pakistan have set up a union and are demanding, among other things, that the temporary staff be given permanent contracts.

The media make out that the Taliban have genuine mass support in Pakistan, but in this article we see how they are actually promoted by forces within the state that see them as a useful instrument in terrorising the local people and as a means of maintaining their own corrupt rule. And we shouldn’t forget the role of US imperialism in promoting them in the first place!