RAWALPINDI, July 18: Political activists, trade unionists and intellectuals of the Left have decided to form a local chapter of the Anti-Privatization Alliance (APA) launched in Lahore and Karachi during the recent struggle of the PTCL workers against privatization. They met at the office of the People’s Rights Movement (PRM) and agreed to organize a national anti-privatization conference on July 27 at the Rawalpindi Press Club to which activists from all over the country would be invited.

Representatives of the PRM, the Communist Mazdoor Kissan Party, Labour Party of Pakistan, National Workers Party, Socialist Movement Pakistan, Pakistan Workers Confederation, All- Pakistan Federation of Trade Unions, Centre for Alternative Media, PTCL Unions Action Committee, Railways Workers Union and Trade Union Rights Campaign (TURC) participated in the meeting.

Speaking on the occasion, Aasim Sajjad of the PRM said the struggle of PTCL workers had raised hopes of the working class in Pakistan that a popular resistance movement challenging neo- liberal capitalism could become a reality in the near future.

Though privatization had been a policy of the state since late 1980s, it became a public issue only when the PTCL workers agitated against it, he added.

The APA should now prepare in advance to prevent the planned privatizations of Pakistan Steel Mills, Pakistan State Oil and other public owned enterprises, he said.

Mr Sajjad said working people in Pakistan recognized the forces collaborating against them and considered it “only a matter of time” that their anger crystallized into a nationwide political movement.

Azam Janjua of the TURC regretted that the trade union movement was plagued with pocket unionism, but said that the PTCL workers proved that a struggle was still possible.

He said the state had weakened progressive political forces in the country by design, and isolated trade unions from their natural allies — political workers, students, intellectuals and all progressive forces.

It was high time that this separation was undone, he said, adding that forming a united platform against privatization could prove an important initial step. If APA succeeds in stopping a few planned privatizations, a genuine movement could take shape against the state and imperialism, he said.