Peoples should press govts for peace: West Bengal speaker
By Shamim-ur-Rahman
KARACHI, Aug 10: The acting chairman of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association and speaker of the West Bengal state assembly has called upon the peoples of the two countries
to step up pressure on their governments to sit together and resolve the dispute while at the same time exploring other avenues of cooperation.
"Even if there is no resolution (of the issue) soon, even then they should continue to push for progress in other fields", said Hashim Abdul Halim in an interview with Dawn during a brief stay in the metropolis on Sunday.
The West Bengal speaker was here on his way to Islamabad to discuss the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association's meeting in Quebec next month in which Pakistan's return to the fold of the Commonwealth parliamentary process will be decided.
Asked to comment on the current state of Pakistan-India relations, Mr Halim stressed that peoples' organizations in both the countries should step up pressure on their governments to sit together and resolve all issues.
The Marxist who has been speaker of his state assembly for more than 22 years called upon developing countries to be watchful of the hegemonic aspirations of the United States and Britain.
"What they have done in Iraq is not right. We have to decide what we have to do to deal with the coming onslaught. Iraq is not an isolated matter. After Iraq what? Iran, Sudan? Can Pakistan withstand after that? After the Afghanistan war, there was Iraq. So all this is a chain of the same thing.
"But despite that I don't condone 9/11 which was horrible, deplorable and an act against humanity. Having said that, what has happened in Afghanistan and is happening in Iraq cannot be condoned either because innocent men and women and children have been killed," he said.
Asked how a Marxist party had made gains in a parliamentary democratic system resulting in an emphatic vote in favour of the left in India, Mr Halim said it was due to the people's belief in secular politics.
The recent election, he said, was very important in the sense that for the first time the people of India were given the choice of either electing Hindu or secular democratic forces.
The choice was posed by Gujarat, and "we are happy that the Hindu majority has defeated Hindutva. Muslims had no power to do that. We the leftists and Marxists have consistently maintained a secular approach".
Asked how long the current initiative between India and Pakistan could be sustained, Mr Halim said the Marxists had not joined the government but were supporting it to keep the BJP out and to use this opportunity to serve the people.
"It will be a great misfortune for India and the people's movement. Therefore, it is a very big responsibility on our shoulders. There can be a backlash. Hindutva has not died. It has lost an election. They are reorganizing and if we are not alert then they will stage a comeback."
Mr Halim said that because of social reform people were convinced that the left was sincere in its approach to problems. He described feudalism as the greatest impediment to parliamentary democracy.
"When we look at Pakistan, we observe that feudalism is still very strong," Mr Halim said. "As long as feudalism is not banished, there will be no transformation.
In West Bengal, feudalism has been done away with, so the transformation has taken place there. Parliamentary democracy can be sustained only by eradication of feudalism. Otherwise nothing will happen and feudal lords will be in control," he said.
