HYDERABAD: Communist Party of Pakistan (CPP) Secretary General and Popular Left Alliance Convener Comrade Imdad Kazi has expressed concern over wheat crisis in the country and observed that conditions in Pakistan were quite similar to those in Sri Lanka due to a collusion among elites, rulers, corrupt bureaucrats and investors.

In a statement issued here on Sunday, he said Pakistan had gone bankrupt practically and people were being deprived of their rights. He said the government was facilitating the privileged class by raising taxes and prices of petroleum products after every fortnight. He said that declared and undeclared taxes were being imposed in order to meet state expenses and perks.

He said that instead of doing away with its own expenses, financial privileges and free concessions, the government was looking towards the IMF, World Bank and other financial institutions, governments and companies. He said that Pakistan’s important assets were being privatised at throw-away prices which could lead to disastrous consequences.

He said that unless the political conditions of Pakistan were corrected by making them people-friendly, situation would not improve. He said the right of rule of the federating units and nations would have to be accepted and people’s trust would have to be won. Unless these issues were fixed, the question of improving the conditions simply did not arise, he added.

He said Pakistan needed massive reforms, pro-people and revolutionary in nature, and such reforms could only be brought about by an ideological revolutionary political leadership in collaboration with the mass participation, therefore, expecting some good from corrupt, incompetent, opportunist and business-oriented leadership was tantamount to deceiving ourselves.

He urged students, youths, labourers, women, peasants, farmers, intellectuals, journalists and lawyers to adopt the path of unified struggle to get rid of repeatedly-tested rulers responsible for that exploitative system. He said that such decision could lead to the path of popular revolution.

Published in Dawn, April 29th, 2024