KARACHI, Jan 24 Leftist and progressive forces on Sunday announced the birth of “Workers Party of Pakistan (WPP)” which took shape with the merger of two leftist parties — the National Workers Party (NWP) and the Communist Mazdoor Kisan Party (CMKP) — and resolved to steer the country out of the present crises with the support of all democratic forces.

The deteriorating political and economic situation in the country demanded formation of a broad-based party of workers and pro-democracy forces which could wage an organised and sustained struggle to achieve the goal, Abid Hasan Manto, chief of the defunct NWP declared at a gathering of leftist and progressive activists, writers and intellectuals at the PMA House.

Mr Manto, accompanied by Yousuf Mastikhan, Soofi Khalique Baloch, Ejaz Ghani, Usman Baloch and Akhtar Hussain sitting with him on the stage, appealed to all democratic forces of the country to come forward and join hands for a broad-based platform that could deliver to the teeming millions deprived of their fundamental and other constitutional rights by the oppressive system and forces headed by feudal lords and agents of imperialism.

Mr Manto said that leaders of the WPP would contact all other leftist and progressive parties, including the National Party-Bizenjo, Awami Party and Labour Party, as well as the like-minded groups to come to its fold or extend their support for the national cause. He said all small and big parties should shun their petty differences and forge unity in their ranks to hand a defeat to the oppressive forces and bring an end to the status quo prevailing in the country's political scenario for decades. “Despite all sorts of differences among them, the oppressive forces always demonstrated unity whenever they sense a threat to their common interests,” he pointed out, and warned that unity among the forces fighting for the oppressed was vital to defeat the oppressive forces.

He also chided the United States, West and other capitalist forces for always coming to the rescue of their agents in Pakistan to defeat the pro-democracy forces struggling for their rights.

Mr Manto highlighted the causes behind the failure of leftist forces and absence of a real democratic dispensation in the country, and recalled that Pakistan was pitted against India only 15 days after its birth. The country's all resources were diverted to the military budget to develop armed forces and war machines. Resultantly, the social sector remained grossly neglected from the day one and the country was made to beg for loans, aids and grants.

Blaming all ills to the system imposed by the imperialist forces, Mr Manto said that “if the system is to be changed, everyone of us including workers, students, intellectuals and writers will have to join the joint struggle to be launched from the new platform.”

Yousuf Mastikhan, Soofi Khaliq Baloch, Akhtar Hussain Advocate and Dr Samina Hashmi also spoke.