A new Left: AWP Lahore holds second congress today

Awami Workers’ Party was founded in 2012

LAHORE: The Awami Workers’ Party (AWP) will organise its second Lahore district congress on Sunday (today).

The congress will mark the culmination of the three-year tenure of the party’s district committee and oversee the nomination and election of a new district committee. The constitution of the AWP has mandated this exercise in a bid to cultivate a democratic and vibrant party structure. The AWP was formed in 2012 and is currently engaged in party building. The outgoing committee has led the party in this early phase, overseeing several campaigns in support of kiln workers, peasants and for the recovery of Baloch missing persons. The district committee has also fostered an alliance with new student groups calling on the government to remove the ban on student unions.

The party recognises the need for greater organisation in Lahore, one of the largest metropolitan cities of the country, and understands that to build a viable alternative to major political parties like Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) it must be receptive to new ideas and approaches to political organisation. The congress is an attempt to reorganise and revitalise the district party by learning from the experience of the outgoing committee and by electing a new committee to carry forward the task of organising for social equality and egalitarianism.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 8^th, 2016.