Haqooq-e-Khalq to compete in all polls

LAHORE: Left-wing organisations organised a public assembly on Sunday in a display of ‘no-confidence’ in the current governing system in an attempt to revive themselves politically.
They gathered in the Nasser Bagh under the name of the Haqooq-e-Khalq Movement (HKM), vowing to create a political alternative for the working masses whose voices were being neglected by the mainstream political parties. They pledged to fight toward abolishing the capitalist ‘welfare state’ status and elevating the working class to the level of a third force in national politics.
The HKM, which brought together working people from all around Lahore, as well as Murdike, Faisalabad, Toba Tek Singh, and Kot Addu, vowed to place working people at the centre of local and national politics, rather than tiny factions of the elite battling it out for control.
It was stated that the HKM will be registered as a political party and that it would run candidates in all local and national elections.
HKM’s Ammar Ali Jan, rights activist Hina Jilani, Farooq Tariq, Farrukh Suhail Goindi, Irfan Mufti, Rabbiya Bajwa attorney, and others spoke at the event.
Mr Jan claimed that the land, sugar, and education mafias, as well as landlords, were represented on [Imran Khan’s] stage in the Islamabad public meeting, whereas the Nasser Bagh stage was set by people from the working class and localities such as Kot Lakhpat, Chungi Amar Sidhu, Shahdara, Muridke, and others.
He slammed the popular government system known as democracy, claiming that individuals born with silver spoons in their mouths were paying over Rs200 million to secure a seat in the National Assembly. He said that the HKM would provide real national unity in contrast to the ‘separatist’ elite, who lived in gated communities and constructed their own health and educational facilities.
Ammar Ali Jan said that Pakistan was not a poor country, but that the poor’s income was being stolen and funnelled into the pockets of the wealthy. He said that only Pakistan’s elite received subsidies and benefits, implying that Pakistan was essentially a welfare state for the wealthy. He vowed that if working people banded together, genuine democracy and rights would return to them.
Ms Jilani stated that the country’s political and economic condition has never been worse than it is now, putting democracy in jeopardy.
She asked the people to stand up for human rights for the future of their children and the nation, warning the ‘selectors’ not to engage in the ‘selection’ again.
Farooq Tariq, commenting on the events in Islamabad, stated that while the people of Pakistan would say goodbye to Imran Khan if he were to be deposed, they also realised that the opposition offered no social or economic alternatives. He claimed that while both the government and opposition paid people to accompany them to Islamabad for their rallies, the actual working people of Lahore had gone to the HKM Jalsa because it represented their authentic voice.
Ms Bajwa stated that the only way to ease the concerns of the people was for political movements, such as the one being launched by the HKM, to highlight the issues of workers, peasants, and women.
Participants held red flags and posters with demands such as “no increase in educational institution prices,” “transform the system, not faces,” and “revolution incomplete without the voice of women,” among others.