March 17, 2003	Monday	Muharram 13, 1424

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RAWALPINDI, March 16: The government should adopt an unequivocal stance against the United States and United Kingdom’s bellicosity against Iraq.

This was the view of the speakers at a meeting of the Communist Mazdoor-Kissan Party held at the press club on Sunday.

The meeting, through different resolutions, demanded of the government to respect the national sentiments, international opinion and cannons of international law on this critical issue while taking any decision.

The meeting warned that if the aggressive designs of the imperialistic states were not checked, the same could also happen with Pakistan.

“Remaining indecisive between the oppressor and the oppressed tantamounts to hypocrisy and siding with tyranny,” one of the resolutions passed at the meeting stated.

Through another resolution, the meeting asked the government to free the country’s economy from the stranglehold of the international lending agencies as their anti-people policies had resulted in an increase in poverty and unemployment with a steep decline in the standard of living.

The resolution said utility bills had gone out of the reach of common man, prices of daily-use commodities had registered unprecedented increase and social sectors like health and education had been made profitable businesses. This, the resolution said, was being done to keep Pakistan a puppet in the hands of super powers.

Condemning military interventions, a resolution said, repeated military takeovers had not only damaged constitutional and democratic institutions, but also caused irrevocable damage to the solidarity of the state.

The meeting called upon the country to revoke Legal Framework Order (LFO) and check the way for repeated military interventions for restoring the image of the country in the international community. It also asked the government to recall army officers from all civilian institutions, including the president.

The Mazdoor-Kissan Party meeting’s resolution asked the government to make the judiciary free so that it could take decisions according to the requisites of justice and not the principle of necessity.

Another resolution called on the government to repeal discriminatory laws against minorities and women.

The meeting further asked for an end to repression of the workers in the NWFP and eviction of tillers from their lands in the Punjab.

The party workers later marched towards Committee Chowk protesting against the possible US-led attack on Iraq. They were chanting slogans against war and were holding placards inscribed with anti-war phrases.