The Hindu : National : Karat's call to mobilise people against U.S. `interference'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Dec 20, 2004

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National

Karat's call to mobilise people against U.S. `interference'

By Our Staff Reporter

The CPI (M) leader, Prakash Karat, expresses solidarity with other delegates at a public meeting after the three-day Anti-War Assembly in Hyderabad on Sunday. — Photo: H. Satish

HYDERABAD, DEC. 19. Eliminating nuclear weapons and building peace between India and Pakistan should be the immediate goals of the anti-war movement in India, Prakash Karat, CPI (M) Polit Bureau member, said while addressing a public meeting of the Anti-War Assembly here on Sunday.

"As a first step the two countries (India and Pakistan) should refrain from deploying their nuclear weapons in their respective armies," Mr. Karat said and added that this should lead to the complete de-nuclearisation of South Asia. Nuclear weapons would never allow peace to grow between India and Pakistan, he felt.

Mr. Karat said that despite the defeat of the pro-U.S. NDA Government, there remained a strong lobby which wanted deeper military relations with the U.S. and Israel. "Military collaboration with the U.S. and Israel cannot co-exist with an independent foreign policy," he said. "We have to mobilise a larger number of people to stop U.S. interference in our country. It was only popular pressure which would keep the present UPA Government from falling into the lap of the U.S. imperialists."

The Anti-War Assembly, which concluded after three days of deliberations here on Sunday, was attended by activists from Iraq, Palestine, Egypt, U.K., U.S., Japan, Philippines, France and Italy, apart from India. The Assembly expressed solidarity with the people of Iraq and support for their "resistance" to U.S. occupation. It also expressed solidarity with the struggle of the Palestinian people to end Israeli occupation of their homeland.

An Iraqi delegate, Khudur al-Azawi, said the whole world was opposed to the U.S.-led war in Iraq. "From Iraq to India the entire world is against their war-mongering," he said. Thanking the Indian people for their support to the Iraqi people, he said: "The day is not far when the mighty American military will have to leave Iraq having been defeated by our resistance."

Hassan Zarkani, representative of the Iraqi resistance leader, Moqtada al-Sadr, said the Iraqi people were united in their opposition to U.S. occupation and no power on earth could defeat their resistance which was growing stronger by the day.

Jaber Wishash, a Palestinian activist, recalled Jawaharlal Nehru's visit to the Palestinian refugee camps in Gaza and said that Palestinians were inspired by Mahatma Gandhi's spirit of resistance to "evil" in their own struggle for their homeland.

The Narmada Bachao Andolan leader, Medha Patkar, linked the struggle of the Iraqi and Palestinian people with the struggles of people in India for livelihood, for dignity and against destructive "development" policies.

Activists from the U.S., the U.K. and Japan also addressed the public meeting. Chris Nineham from the U.K., said the U.S. had lost the global battle for the "hearts and minds" of the people and was now losing the military battle on the ground in Iraq.

Representatives from various political parties, social movements and eminent individuals addressed the meeting. The Assembly decided to organise massive rallies in different cities of the country on March 19 and 20 to observe the second anniversary of the U.S. attack on Iraq.

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