Dear Brothers and Sisters; Friends and Comrades,

The Committee of Progressive Pakistani-Canadians congratulates the Egyptian people on their success in ousting the dictator Husni Mubarak and salutes their heroic and historic struggle against dictatorship and for freedom, democracy and social justice.

Backed and supported by the US and other western countries the Egyptian regime, like many other Arab regimes – as indeed most of the governments in Pakistan – have served the interests of the rich internally and that of imperialism regionally.

The Egyptian armed services, just like those of Pakistan, receive well over a billion dollars annually from the United States, most of which ends up in the pockets of senior officers. The ties and cooperation between the security agencies of the US with those of Egypt – as with the security forces of Pakistan – are even closer. Along with you, we hope, these relationships will end.

The Saudi monarchy – the most reactionary, despotic and US-dependent of the Arab regimes – has also played a significant role in aiding and abetting undemocratic and unjust regimes in the region – including those of Pakistan. King Abdullah had personally phoned Mubarak to express his solidarity, calling the protests an ‘attack against the security and stability of Egypt’ that were being carried out by ‘infiltrators in the name of free speech’. Like you we hope that the transformations in Egypt and Tunisia are the beginnings of political and social change in the entire region.

Israel, allowed a virtually free hand first by government of Enver Sadat and then by that of Mubarak in its continued occupation of Palestinian territory and oppression of the Palestinian people was loath to see the dictator leave. Tel Aviv hopes that the successor regime in Cairo will be as pliant toward it as was Mubarak’s.

Canada, a partner in Western imperialist plunder, also has been a supporter of the Egyptian and similar regimes in the Middle East and elsewhere. The most pro-Israeli government in Canadian history, the Harper Conservatives have turned a blind eye to the oppression and misery of the Palestinian people at the hands of Israel.

We demand that the Canadian government put pressure on Israel to immediately end its criminal blockade of Gaza, stop all settlement activity on Palestinian territories and support, in word and deed, the withdrawal of Israel from all lands it occupied in the 1967 war and the creation of an independent, viable and sovereign Palestinian state with Palestinian refugees having the right to return to their homeland.

Like you, The CPPC hopes that changes in Egypt are not merely cosmetic – Mubarakism sans Mubarak. We share your hope that future Egyptian governments will be truly representative of the democratic aspirations of its people, and again salute you and express our solidarity with you in your struggle to build a peaceful and prosperous society based on principles of fairness and social justice, free of foreign domination.

Omar Latif
Committee of Progressive Pakistani-Canadians
February 11, 2011