Pic: TUBS/CC

ON JULY 11, Unite the Union’s national policy conference threw the weight of its 1.2 million members behind an international campaign for the release of political prisoners in Gilgit-Baltistan, unjustly detained under torturous conditions by order of the Pakistani state.

Gilgit-Baltistan is an administrative territory that constitutes the northern part of occupied Kashmir, to which Pakistan has no legal claim, but nevertheless treats as a de facto colony.

The local assembly is widely regarded as a puppet body, firmly in the grip of the generals and bureaucrats in Islamabad.

Years of corruption and theft have left Gilgit-Baltistan in an extreme state of poverty and underdevelopment, despite its abundance of natural resources. Its stunning and unique ecology has also been wrecked by aggressive capitalist exploitation.

In 2014, Ehsan Ali of the Inqalabi Communist Party set up an Awami Action Committee (a form of community defence organisation) in Gilgit-Baltistan. For over a decade, the AAC-GB has campaigned peacefully for democratic rights, the maintenance of subsidies on basic goods like wheat flour and for the provision of health and education facilities to the people of the region. It has mobilised thousands of locals and forced significant concessions.

The regime retaliated by placing Ali on the infamous “Fourth Schedule,” an anti-terrorism measure that put him under constant surveillance.

The AAC-GB had planned a new mass protest for May 25, to oppose a new Minerals Bill that will open up the territory for further environmentally destructive mining operations.

But on May 15, a wave of arrests was launched targeting leaders of the AAC-GB, including Ehsan Ali. The arrests provoked significant protests in Gilgit-Baltistan and across Pakistan, many of them led by women. These have been met with vicious repression by state forces.

Campaigners for the AAC-GB leaders’ release claim the detainees have been tortured and that attempts have been made to extort false confessions from them, including via threats to their relatives.

They have also raised concerns over the health of Ehsan Ali, who is in his late sixties, and contracted a serious intestinal infection in prison.

Ali has been moved in and out of hospital and undergone surgery during his confinement. His doctors are now worried about his heart, but the authorities in Gilgit-Baltistan are refusing to transfer him to a better hospital for a proper check-up.

Campaigners believe the regime is deliberately withholding proper medical care in order to put pressure on Ali to co-operate. While in hospital, he refused to sign a false confession that implied he was acting at the behest of India. All of this is a grave and shameful denial of his human rights.

Faced with relentless protest in and outside of Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan has granted bail to most of the arrested AAC-GB leaders.

A leading youth member, Sarfraz Nagri, was arrested last week at his home after he organised a long march in Nagar, mostly of women protesters.

In an inspiring display of solidarity, Nagri’s arrest provoked a spontaneous protest that lasted for more than 30 hours, closing down the main highway in Nagar and forcing the authorities to release him.

However, the fight is far from over. None of the AAC-GB leaders have been acquitted and could be returned to jail at any time. Moreover, three have not been granted bail and are still in prison facing terrorism charges. These are Masood ur Rehman, Irfan Azad and Ehsan Ali.

A judge in Gilgit-Baltistan rejected Ali’s request for bail, accusing him of “delivering hate speeches” and “trying to provoke innocent people... to rebellion.”

The judge also exploited the India-Pakistan war in March, condemning Ali’s criticism of the state at a time when “the armed forces of Pakistan were courageously fighting the enemies at the borders.”

An international campaign for the AAC-GB leaders’ release has been ongoing for two months, with weekly protests at Pakistani diplomatic buildings worldwide. One of these led to a brief confrontation with Bilawal Bhutto as he was attempting to enter the High Commission in London.

The solidarity campaign has been endorsed by hundreds of activists and politicians, including essayist Slavoj Zizek; Amazon trade union leader Chris Smalls; Italian Five Stars leader Stefano Patuanelli; Brazilian MP Glauber Braga from the Socialism and Liberty Party (PSOL); and German Bundestag member Ferat Kocak from Die Linke.

Arsalan Ghani, a delegate from Cambridge who moved the motion of solidarity at Unite’s policy conference, called the arrests “an assault on every worker who dares to stand up and say: enough!” he added: “What was [the AAC-GB leaders’] crime? They dared to stand up for and win victories for the poorest communities. They showed that organised workers can defeat state oppression.”

Aside from Unite, solidarity motions have also been passed by the largest civil servants’ union in Toronto (CUPE 79); the Independent Workers Union (IWU) in Ireland; the CGT Thales Services Numeriques in France, and many more labour organisations.

Collectively, the campaign is backed by millions of trade unionists in over a dozen countries.

This is the voice of our class, raised in a clear chorus for justice, human rights and elementary democratic freedoms. Given the brutal legacy of colonialism in the subcontinent, not to mention the longstanding relationship between the ruling elites in London and Islamabad, workers in Britain must make themselves heard for their brothers and sisters in Gilgit-Baltistan.

In a statement, campaigners for the AAC-GB made a call for a co-ordinated day of protest on Wednesday July 30 to put the maximum pressure on the Pakistani state: “We call on all our supporters — as well as the organisations, activists and individuals who have endorsed our campaign — to join us at Pakistani embassies, high commissions and consulates all over the world. We will say with one voice: ‘The generals in Islamabad and the capitalists they represent are the real terrorists! We will not rest until all of the AAC-GB political prisoners are returned home’!”

If you want to support the campaign for the Awami Action Committee Gilgit-Baltistan, they can be contacted at: aacgb-solidarity@marxist.com.