Fujian Provincial government news bureau, reported that in a notorious case of and rottenness is the following. The 15th Vol.27 Issue 1 smuggling investigated by the Central Disciplinary Inspection Committee, it was found that a broad network of leading gov- Pakistan - Labour Party offices raided ernment, party and bank officials were involved in the smuggling of crude oil and POLICE and soldiers raided the houses and the offices of Pakistan Labour party automobiles, and a preliminary estimate of leaders on 22nd March. The raids were carried out after the Party had organized a smuggled goods imported into China via demonstration in front of the US Consulate on the afternoon of 22nd March against Xiamen totalled 80 billion yuan.6 the visit of President Clinton. No arrest was made at the time although there were
6. According to a report by the China hundreds of policemen present. The main reason for this could be the large presYouth Daily, underground tobacco facto- ence of national and international media to cover the event.
After a few hours, the police started raiding the different places to arrest Faroog Guangdong and Guangxi provinces to sev- Tariq, Shoaib Bhatti and Zafar Awan, the three main leaders of the LPP. They were eral other provinces in the hinterland such fortunate enough to avoid the arrests and have since gone underground as Sichuan and Yunnan. Some of them take Labour Party headquarters and the office of the Weekly Mazdoor Jeddojuhd have cover by using empty military camps as been raided several times and are now under police surveillance. Labour Party leadfactories, and using special vehicles such ers have gone underground and are in consultation with their advocates. They have as military trucks and post vehicles for advised them to avoid arrest until they could move to the courts for bails and other transportation.
Some processing camps are covered up The strong reaction came after the LPP was able to organize a very successful by the zones being designated as prohibit- demonstration despite a ban on political activities. They defied the ban and had ed military zones barring ordinary people announced it beforehand in the national media. LPP leaders had declared that they from entry. It is reported that smuggled would not abide by the law, which is in contradiction of basic human rights. tobacco and fake tobacco are taking up The LPP organized the demo at the time when every single religious group had welquite a proportion in the market, and a con- comed the visit of US President, under pressure from the military rulers. The servative estimate was that the state treas- Human Rights Commission of Pakistan issued a statement saying: "If various secury suffered a loss of 20 billion yuan a tions of society are being freely allowed to issue statements and express their satisyear.? faction over the visit of the US president, the council noted that those who opposed
7. According to a report by the Beijing this visit are equally entitled to express their opposition to it, particularly if the Daily, in Fujian province, smuggled protest is made peacefully, as the LPP demonstration was. The council demands mobile phones totalled a value of US$300 that no one should be arrested or harassed for expressing their opinion through million, evading tax of US$40 million. The peaceful means. The recent ban on political rallies and demonstration, which vioFujian Telecommunications Bureau has lates fundamental human rights, should be lifted immediately. " Officials of major been put under investigation.8
8. Jia Chunwang, Head of the Ministry Please send protest letters condemning the raids to the following addresses: of Public Security, made a report to the Chief Executive General Perver Musharal, email, ce@pak.gov.pk; Federal Standing Committee of the National Interior Minister Lt.Gen. (R) Moin -ud-Din Haider, fax number 92 51 People's Congress in December 1999, 9202642; Governor of Punjab Lt. Gen. (R) Muhammed Safdar, fax number 92 admitting that corruption, graft and abuse of power for economic interests among the public security police have been quite serious. 22 International Viewpoint #320 April 2000 tion of its resolution to combat corruption by Faroog Sulebria remedies still available.
umons also condemned the raids.* ippl@lpp.ihr.sdnpk.org.
Article reprinted from October Review