Over the past 2 months a mass protest movement has shaken Gilgit-Baltistan, a Pakistani region which borders China, India and Afghanistan. The movement initially started as a reaction to price increases caused by the removal of government wheat subsidies in Gilgit-Baltistan.
However, the movement rapidly turned in to civil disobedience with revolutionary characteristics. On April 15, an indefinite sit-in strike (dharna) took place and continued for two weeks, showing unprecedented unity of groups from a wide range of political and religious backgrounds in protest against unemployment, inflation, power outages, ongoing national oppression and the removal of the longstanding wheat subsidy.
Yadgar Chowk in Skardu (which protesters have renamed Tahrir Square) and Garhi Bagh in Gilgit have been the main centres of the protests and have seen thousands of people gathering there. In addition people from other towns and villages have been pouring in to these centres over the last few weeks where they have set aside artificially engineered sectarian, religious divisions within the population of the region.
What is both criminal and unsurprising at the same time is the treacherous role played by the corporate media, especially through television, during these protests. It has completely ignored the movement and instead preoccupied itself with a continuous barrage of breaking news on non-issues like Pakistani ex-president Musharraf’s trial, the bickering of religious obscurantists amongst themselves etc. Although there was some local print media coverage which gradually expanded as the agitation continued, the general media hardly reported from this movement. This was a clear service to the local government of the region. Obviously this has not been enough to stop the word of this movement, which is an inspiration for the oppressed people of Pakistan, from spreading throughout the country.
Local and central governments have been busy blaming each other for the crisis, but the truth is that the ruling elite as a whole neither has a solution to the crisis facing the masses, nor does it consider it its duty to find a solution. A week after the protest had started; a committee under the leadership of Federal Minister for Kashmir Barjees Tahir was established. In a press conference on April 24 Mrs Tahir clearly said that the wheat subsidy was being withdrawn in Azad Kashmir and in Gilgit Baltistan.
Wheat subsidies were first introduced by the left wing Z.A. Bhutto in the early 1970s. According to the UN conventions the Pakistani state was obliged to provide subsidies to the people in the disputed areas. This practice was continued until the demise of the Musharraf government in 2008. When the PPP came to power after abandoning the slogan of socialism and its trademark slogan of “roti, kapda or makaan” (“Food, clothing and shelter”), it initiated a policy of gradual withdrawal of subsidies resulting in price increases from Rs 850 a ton of wheat during Musharaf’s rule to Rs 1100. This increase only benefitted the capitalists, politicians and bureaucrats in power. With the Muslim League’s Nawaz Sharif coming to power and on the insistence of the IMF, the implementation of neo-liberal policies became the order of the day and what little subsidy remained was suddenly withdrawn pushing wheat price to well above Rs 1400 per ton. In carrying out these anti-people policies Nawaz Sharif has the full support and backing of the PPP Chief Minister of Gilgit Baltistan.
As a result of this economic assault, representatives from over 20 religious, nationalist and political organisations came together and formed the Awami Action Committee (AAC) and started a campaign of outright rejection of the policies of both provisional and central governments. On February 27 a complete ‘shutter-down’ and ‘wheel-jam’ strike was observed in Gilgit, Diamer, Ghizr, Skardu, Astor, Hanza Nagar and other towns across the region.
Protesters not only rejected the withdrawal of the subsidy but also demanded an end to power outages, a halt to the naked exploitation of Gilgit’s mineral resources by multi-nationals, the creation of job opportunities, and an end to national exploitation starting with representation of Gilgit Baltistan in the federal parliament. Both the provisional and central government were given until March 10 to meet these demands. The response of the local and national rulers was the imposition of Order 144, a relic of the British Raj period which prohibits “unlawful assembly”.
On March 10 the people of Gilgit Baltistan crushed this Order under their feet when they came out in large numbers from their homes onto the streets of Gilgit, the regional capital. As there was hardly any response to their demands from the authorities, an ongoing programme of protests, marches and strikes continued. According to one report, at least 3,000 people reached Gilgit from Diamer. Similarly, convoys from Ghizer, Baltistan, Hunza-Nagar and Astore also joined the nearly 15,000 protesters who had set up a protest camp at Ghari Bagh, Gilgit the epicentre of the protests.
In Skardu, the crowd at Yadgar Chowk swelled to more than 30,000 as people kept pouring in on both April 23rd and 24th. The first casualty of the agitation was Chief Secretary Mohammad Younus Dagha, who was fired thanks to his role as the person who signed the order ending the wheat subsidy. But this change was only cosmetic given that the decision on the subsidy was political, not administrative. It did not satisfy the protestors.
An editorial of a prominent Gilgit paper, K2, published on April 24 said that “the protests have entered their 10th day, the enthusiasm and passion of the protesters has not dampened. On the contrary it has manifestly increased. The local administration is considering this protest to be run of the mill and it has not shown any seriousness in negotiating with the protesters. It is looking towards the central government and is foolishly waiting for some sort of divine resolution”.
In another Gilgit newspaper an analysis of the recent events stated that this is the first time for many decades that people have not only come out onto the streets but have been able to overcome sectarian divisions. This is not just an issue of the wheat subsidy now - people are sick and tired of the system. This movement has, over the last ten days, united Sunni and Shias in the same struggle. One senior representative of the AAC said that “if the government refuses to reinstate the subsidy then we will call for a total rejection of this puppet assembly and will establish a people’s assembly. This puppet minister is forcing us to take this step”.
The ruling class attempted to use its traditional weapon of sectarian divisions to cut across the movement. On April 21 Shia Ulma Council’s leader and minister for water and electricity Deedar Ali Shah and MQM minister for Planning and Development Raja Azam Khan said in a joint press conference that Shias and MQM have nothing to do with the AAC and Shias will not participate in the protest movement. But people belonging to the Shia school of thought not only participated in the movement but also condemned the statement made by the ministers during a large public rally in Gilgit. Speaker after speaker condemned the dirty tactics used by the local government, including paid ads in all the local newspapers urging government employees to not to participate in the strikes and demonstrations, and warned the government not to forget what happened when workers from WAPDA forced the government to hand over their salaries which was being withheld for no reason at all.
This movement’s character was decisively class based and was in the control of the masses. Due to the relentless pressure of the movement, the parties of the ruling elite have been forced to show solidarity with the movement. In addition even clerics of different sects, who normally shout themselves hoarse calling each other infidels and even inciting people to murder, suddenly caved under this mass pressure and became part of the movement.
In the coming days the ruling elite will attempt to lure the AAC into calling off the movement. In addition compromises and understandings will be made with some sections within the AAC. The youth and workers of Gilgit Baltistan need to draw important lessons from these events and understand that they cannot rely on religious and bourgeois political parties but will have to create their own organisations and leadership. To achieve this, people’s committees need to be set up in all towns and villages in the area in which youth, students, workers and peasants need to be represented. This must be linked with workers’ struggle and workers’ organisations across Pakistan as a whole, and specifically with the Left forces in Pakistan, for a complete overthrow of this brutal capitalist system.