Fresh start: Workers party’s federal congress on Sept 27

ISLAMABAD:

The Awami Workers Party (AWP) is all set to hold its maiden federal congress in the capital on September 27 and 28 to voice issues faced by the people of Pakistan.

According to AWP leaders, the congress takes place at a time when millions in the country are fed up with the televised squabbles of political parties claiming to represent them.

Addressing a news conference at the National Press Club on Wednesday, AWP information secretary Nisar Shah, women’s secretary Farzana Bari, Rawalpindi and Islamabad president Chaudhry Masudul Hasan and the local chapter’s information secretary Ammar Rashid briefed the media on preparations for the forthcoming congress, the party’s draft programme and the current political situation.

The congress will mark the end of the party’s first phase of organisation building, which started with the merger of three parties—Awami Party, Workers Party and Labour Party—in November 2012.

Shah stated that though the leftists had been a major force until the 1980s, it suffered a decline following the end of the Cold War. “The absence of meaningful leftist politics, at least partially, explains many of our structural crises and the spread of populism of the rightist parties, most recently in the form of the so-called ‘revolution’ and ‘azadi’ marches,” he said.

Seconding Shah, Bari said despite claims of progress by all mainstream parties, the condition of the working classes, oppressed nationalities, women and religious minorities has deteriorated.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 25^th, 2014.