NDP victory in Alberta

Statement of the Committee of Progressive Pakistani-Canadians, May 19, 2015

The Committee of Progressive Pakistani-Canadians congratulates the NDP on its victory in Alberta, a significant political development in the life of that province and Canada. This accomplishment, though a surprise, was built on the hard work of the current and past members of the NDP – and the fact that the ‘ordinary’ people of Alberta are looking for policies that will favour them rather than the corporations and the rich.

The CPPC stands for:

  • A secular society with separation of state and religion
  • Equality of all regardless of gender, ethnicity and belief
  • Peace – and against imperialist wars, Islamic fundamentalism and Islamophobia
  • Genuinely democratic governments of the people, by the people, for the people – not by the 1%!

We also believe that the natural resources of Canada should be owned and utilized in an environmentally responsible way in the interests of the people of Canada, first and foremost those of the First Nations.

The wealthy, and the mass media that represent their views has, predictably, come out in opposition to the victory of your party and the potential it has of implementing policies which include fairer taxation and improving the lives of working people. The NDP has an overwhelming majority in the legislature: we urge you to bring in proportional representation to make elections more fair than currently, something which we hope will be emulated by other provinces and at the federal level.

We hope that the NDP will represent its constituents in the best way possible – to promote progressive legislation and to oppose laws that only benefit the rich and otherwise privileged.

Hoping that the victory of the of the NDP in Alberta on May 5 turns out to be a May Day gift which the working people of that province – and the country – can really benefit from.

Mass murder of Ismailis by fundamentalist terrorists in Pakistan

Statement by Committee of Progressive Pakistani-Canadians, May 15, 2015

The Committee of Progressive Pakistani-Canadians offers its deepest condolences to the families of the victims of the terrorist attack on May 13 in Karachi and to the religious community they belonged to, the Ismaili Muslims. We strongly condemn the perpetrators – religious fundamentalist terrorists who claim to be Muslims – of this cowardly attack on innocent and defenseless women and men.

The view expressed by some senior members of the armed and security forces and right-wing press that the attack was carried out by India is widely seen – and rejected – for what it is: a pathetic attempt to divert attention from the religious terrorist groups (jihadis in common parlance which carry out such heinous acts and maintaining the image of India as an arch-enemy to maintain their bloated budgets to combat that enemy.

In Pakistan violence against religious minorities has been used by vested interests to divert people’s attention from corrupt and authoritarian rule, exploitation, poverty, illiteracy, hunger, inadequate housing, water and sanitation and turn it against scapegoats, is almost as old as the country itself.

It was in the early fifties that the Ahmadiya community was targeted for which Maulana Maudoodi of the Jammat-e-Islami, amongst others, was identified as one of the key instigators, tried and condemned to death by hanging by the courts but later pardoned due to pressure from internal and external patrons.

After the Ahmadis, Christians and Hindus became the targets of violence and discrimination. In recent decades the Shia, too, have similarly suffered mass killings and the destruction of their places of worship; even sects within the Sunnis have not been spared by zealots and puritans claiming to uphold ‘pure’ Islamic values.

In Pakistan religion, rather than being a personal, private matter as had been envisaged by Jinnah and others, began to be fused with the state with the adoption of the ‘Objectives Resolution’ in 1949 – a melding greatly reinforced by the fundamentalist dictator General Zia-ul Haq (1977 – 1988).

Religious terrorist groups came into their own when Pakistan, regional reactionary countries like Saudi Arabia, allied with US-led imperialism, mounted their jihad against the April 1978 Saur Revolution in Afghanistan.

Since then religious fundamentalist terrorist groups, financed, armed and supported by influential sections of the Pakistan military and security apparatus, some civilian forces and the Saudi and Gulf kingdoms have been wreaking havoc in Pakistan.

(It should be noted that similar groups have been founded, armed and financed in the Middle East by the U.S. and its allies in the region).

The CPPC is of the view that the leaderships and members of the various religious minorities must publicly join the struggle for a secular Pakistan in which state and religion are separate and in which each citizen has equal rights regardless of religious beliefs. The law declaring Ahmadis to be non-Muslims, those discriminating against women and religious minorities and the ‘Blasphemy Law’ should be completely removed from the constitution.

We reiterate that terrorist/fundamentalist groups like the Taliban, the Tehrik-e-Taliban-e-Pakistan, Jundullah etc. must be vigorously fought against; any Pakistani military officer or civilian giving them support should be prosecuted and all assistance to them and fundamentalist schools from the Saudis and the Gulf Emirates should be ended.

The Committee of Progressive Pakistani-Canadians stands for:

* A secular society with separation of state and religion
* Equality of all regardless of gender, ethnicity and belief
* Peace – and against imperialist wars, Islamic fundamentalism and Islamophobia
* Genuinely democratic governments of the people, by the people, for the people, not by the 1%!

www.pakistanicanadians.ca
info@pakistanicanadians.ca

Comment on Statement on Peshawar attack

Dear CPPC,

…  I noticed in the statement that after condemning US imperialism the statement makes this comments

However, the actions, program and the vision of the Taliban cannot be supported by anyone. They, and all other fundamentalist/terrorist groups, must be fought against relentlessly by all means – military, political and economic – and rooted out. 
Although this formulation comes after a broad condemnation of US imperialism, without insistence on Pakistani sovereignty I am not entirely clear what forces it is saying should do the “rooting out,” and why it is necessary to specify a military solution which could indicate full support of the current actions of the National Security Council against  “Talibanization” in Waziristan?
I welcome your thoughts here comrade, I really don’t know the situation well.
JB
Montreal

CPPC Statement on the Terrorist Attack in Peshawar

The Committee of Progressive Pakistani-Canadians joins the universal condemnation – including that of secular, progressive and left forces in Pakistan – of the Tehreek-e-Taliban-e-Pakistan’s latest, and most vicious, act of terrorism – the massacring in cold-blood of at least 130 young students and nine staff members at the Army Public School and Degree College in Peshawar on December 16.

The TTP, in taking responsibility, said the attack on the school was in retaliation for the deaths resulting from the army’s actions against the TTP in its main bases in South Waziristan and North Waziristan in FATA – Federally Administered Tribal Areas – on the Pak-Afghan border.

What bitter irony: The Pakistan army and its Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) – with the help of mainly the United States and Saudi Arabia – helped in the creation, funding, training and arming of, first, the counterrevolutionary ‘mujahideen’ to fight the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan which took power in April 1978, and then the Taliban after the PDPA’s downfall in 1992.

The Tehreek-e-Taliban-e-Pakistan (and the extreme right-wing and sectarian Islamist groups that formed it in 1997) has been responsible for well over 30,000 deaths in Pakistan through countless terrorist acts. Despite that – and the TTP’s turning against the U.S. – powerful state patrons in Pakistan have continued to support it because the TTP did their bidding in helping the Afghan Taliban and in conducting acts of terrorism against India. The Jamaat-e-Islami of Pakistan has also been a staunch supporter of the TTP.

However, under pressure from Afghanistan, India, Iran, China, Russia and, above all its main paymasters, the U.S., the Pakistan army had finally been compelled to attack the TPP which, in turn, has begun to bite the hand that has nurtured and fed it for so long.

The CPPC is saddened by the death of innocent civilians in the Pakistan army’s against the Taliban. Those who are displaced must be taken care of by the state. We are, further, opposed to the drone attacks by the U.S. and imperialism’s denial of justice to the Palestinian people, its criminal boycott of Iran, and its brutal attacks on Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and Syria.

However, the actions, program and the vision of the Taliban cannot be supported by anyone. They, and all other fundamentalist/terrorist groups, must be fought against relentlessly by all means – military, political and economic – and rooted out. All support for them, and fundamentalist schools, by Saudi Arabia and other Gulf States must be stopped completely. Officers and others in Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s government who have patronized the TTP must be removed from office and prosecuted.

It is high time that Pakistan becomes a secular state with the welfare of its people its priority. It must stop serving U.S. interests and adopt a policy of friendship and mutually beneficial relations with all its neighbours – especially India and Afghanistan.

For comments and critique of this statement , please contact:
Committee of Progressive Pakistani-Canadians • info@pakistanicanadians.ca

Faiz Day 2014 – Hum Dekhain Gey

 

Tariq Hamid and his ensemble performed musical version of Faiz’s works, including this rousing version of “Hum Dekhain Gey”

-_-_-_-_- Pakistanimusic.com -_-_-_-_-
Courtsey: Mazhar Ali
Hum Dekhen Ge, Iqbal Bano

Hum Dekhen Gey
Laazim Hai Ke Hum Bhi Dekhen Gey
Hum Dekhen Gey

Woh Din Ke Jiska Waada Hai
Hum Dekhen Gey
Jo Loh-e-azal Main Likha Hai
Hum Dekhen Gey

Jab Zulm-o-sitam Ke Koh-e-garaan
Rooyee Ki Terha Urr Jayen Gey
Hum Mehkoomon Ke Paaoon Taley
Yeh Dharti Dhar Dhar Dharkey Gi
Aur Ahl-e-hakam Ke Sir Ooper
Jab Bijli Kar Kar Karkey Gi

Hum Dekhen Gey
…………..

Jab Arz-e-khuda Ke Kaabey Se
Sub Butt Uthwaaye Jayen Gey
Hum Ahl-e-safaa Mardood-e-haram
Masnad Pe Bithaaye Jayen Gey
Sub Taj Uchaaley Jayen Gey
Sub Takht Giraaye Jayen Gey

Hum Deken Gey
………….

Buss Naam Rahey Ga Allah Ka
Jo Ghaayeb Bhi Hai Haazir Bhi
Jo Naazir Bhi Hai Manzar Bhi
Uthey Ga Anal Haq Ka Naara
Jo Main Bhi Hoon Aur Tum Bhi Ho
Aur Raj Karey Gi Khalq-e-khuda
Jo Main Bhi Hoon Aur Tum Bhi Ho

Hum Dekhen Gey
Laazim Hai Ke Hum Bhi Dekhen Gey
Hum Dekhen Gey
Hum Dekhen Gey
Hum Dekhen Gey
Hum Dekhen Gey

FAIZ DAY, 2014

FAIZ DAY, 2014
Saturday, November 29 (6.30 – 9.30 p.m.)
Glenforest Secondary School (3575 Fieldgate Drive, Mississauga)
Admission – $5.00 per person

The program will consist of:
– A few, short, literary speechesFaiz Day, 2014_11NOVb
– Poems of Faiz sung by the wonderful and well-known singer TARIQ HAMID

For further info:
Abbas Syed 647-524-1891
Fozia Tanveer 647-965-2295
Omar Latif 647-231-6771

Tariq Amin’s Response to CPPC Statement on Khan/Tahirul Qadri agitation

Folks,

I’m truly amazed at reading the statement of the CPPC, which is a blanket support for the Nawaz Sharif government. This is indeed depressing!!!

What “ghair jamhoori qowatenh” is your group speaking about? Are Imran Khan and Tahirul Qadri “ghair jamhoori qowatenh”? Or is CPPC speaking of the military; or further still, are you conflating the military and these two political heads and their respective parties? By not making this clear, your group’s statement is an uncritical support for not just the Nawaz Sharif government, but the PPP and the all and sundry, including the opportunist mullah parties. Continue reading

Aqil Shah Saturday, Sept 13, 6 p.m.

AqilShahTalkGraphic

Aqil Shah is Visiting Professor in the Dept. of Govt. Studies, Dartmouth College, New Hampshire.

His focus is on democratization, civil-military relations and regional security in South Asia.

He has taught at the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS), and Columbia.

His work has appeared in Democratization, Journal of Democracy, Foreign Affairs, and several edited volumes.

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Mississauga: Saturday, Sept 13, 6 p.m.
Rogers Theatre, Living Arts Centre, 4141 Living Arts Drive

Toronto: Sunday, Sept. 14, 2 p.m.
Ryerson University, Room POD-372, 350 Victoria Street
(Approximately 250 meters north of Dundas, just east of Yonge;
parking under Dundas Square or on Victoria St) 

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Suggested admission price $5.00

Organized by the Committee of Progressive Pakistani-Canadians
www.pakistanicanadians.ca • info@pakistanicanadians.ca

Supported by: Progressive Writers Association Canada

Ayesha Jalal – The Struggle for Pakistan – A Muslim Homeland and Global Politics

Ayesha Jalal, the Mary Richardson Professor of History at Tufts University in Boston, is one of the most well known Pakistani-American scholars on South Asia.

Her books include ‘The Pity of Partition: Manto’s Life, Times, and Work Across the Indo-Pakistan Divide’; ‘Partisans of Allah: Jihad in South Asia’, ‘The Muslim League and the Demand for Pakistan’; ‘The State of Martial Rule: The Origins of Pakistan’s Political Economy of Defence’ and ‘Democracy and Authoritarianism in South Asia,’ amongst others.

Prof. Jalal will be speaking on her latest work at two public meetings. We hope you will be able to join us for one of them.

Mississauga: Saturday, Oct. 11, 6 p.m.
Staging Room, Living Arts Centre, 4141 Living Arts Drive

Toronto: Sunday, October 12, 2 p.m.
Room 5 – 280, OISE, 252 Bloor Street West
(St. George subway, Bedford exit; paid parking under building)

Suggested admission price $5.00

Organized by the Committee of Progressive Pakistani-Canadians
www.pakistanicanadians.ca info@pakistanicanadians.ca

Supported by: Progressive Writers Association Canada