RAWALPINDI, March 16: The People’s Rights Movement (PRM) and other like-minded groups will hold a protest rally against the possible American attack on Iraq at Liaquat Bagh on Mrach 20.

This was decided in a resolution adopted during a PRM meeting held here on Sunday. The meeting was held to assess the current political situation, particularly, with regard to the situation in the Middle East.

Those present on the occasion included political activists, students, trade unionists, and representatives of movements such as the All-Pakistan Alliance of Kutchi Abadis and Anjuman Mazarain Punjab.

The participants said the US war mongering posed a threat to the people across the world, and that an attack on Iraq would also have serious consequences in Pakistan.

The US militarism, they said, represented concerted efforts to gain policy objectives of the international financial institutions in developing countries like Pakistan. The American aggression is simply another phase of neo-liberal expansion, they added.

In this regard, the participants established a link between war and the difficulties being faced by the working classes.

It was agreed that war and capturing of resources by force further impoverished poor people because the control over means of production became more and more skewed towards the rich countries. In particular, the US attack on Iraq is an effort to control the oil resources of the Gulf, and such control will allow corporate America to strengthen its grip on world affairs.

The meeting also debated the fact that the majority of anti- imperialist and anti-war mobilization in Pakistan was taking place under the banner of religious parties, which signified a political vacuum that had not been filled by progressive forces.

It was pointed out that many common people who took part in protests organized by the religious groups, had done so because there was a dearth of progressive political platforms from where they could articulate their opposition to war.