Farooq Tariq, a leading member of the Labour Party
Pakistan (LPP) has just been interned by the country's
military dictatorship. Please endorse the appeal and
forward this email as widely as you can.

http://internationalviewpoint.org/spip.php?article1281

Appeal for the release of Farooq Tariq

For the immediate release of Farooq Tariq and the
other prisoners detained after the wave of repression
of the democratic movement in Pakistan!

Farooq Tariq, general secretary of the Labour Party
Pakistan (LPP), was arrested without a warrant on June
5, 2007 at his residence in Lahore. A posteriori, the
Ministry of the Interior issued a three-month
detention order against him. In order to further
isolate him, he was transferred to the prison of
Bahawalpur. All visits to him are prohibited, except
with the prior agreement of the Ministry of the
Interior.


Several hundred people were arrested on suspicion on
June 5th and 6th and many others are subject to
judicial procedures. The regime is trying to break by
force the democratic mobilizations which followed the
suspension on March 9th of the President of the
Supreme Court, Judge Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudry.
Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators took to the
streets to protest against this arbitrary measure.
Repression by the regime was already responsible for
41 deaths and many injured in Karachi on May 12th and
13th. President Pervez Musharraf almost decreed a
state of emergency and no one knows how far the
military regime is ready to go to stamp out the
democratic contestation.

Farooq Tariq was arrested because he was fully engaged
in these mobilizations, in particular in support of
the Lawyers’ Movement that was created after the
suspension of Judge Chaudry. Farooq Tariq is also
known for his solidarity activities on the
international level. He contributed to the
organization of the World Social Forum of Karachi in
2006. He took an active part in other World Forums,
like those in Mumbai (India) and Nairobi (Kenya), as
well as European Forums, including the last one in
Athens (Greece). He is also an activist of the
international anti-war movement.

The situation is all the more worrying because the
regime does not hesitate to use intolerable measures
against Farooq Tariq and other prisoners:
psychological pressures, inhuman conditions of
detention (over-populated cells in very hot weather,
lack of water and sanitary facilities...), prohibition
of visits ETC.

We call for the respect of human rights and freedoms
in Pakistan.

We demand the immediate release of Farooq Tariq and
all those who have been imprisoned for having taken
part in the democratic mobilizations.

First signatures:

Gilbert Achcar, Professor, SOAS, University of London,
Great Britain

Daniel Bensaïd, University of Paris VIII, France.

Olivier Besancenot, spokesperson of the LCR (France)

Vincent Charbonnier, trade unionist (SNASUB-FSU,
Vénissieux), France.

Jean Pierre Debourdeau, FSU, vice-president of Attac
21, France

Chris Harman (editor International Socialism journal),
Great Britain

Alain Krivine, former member of the European
Parliament, spokesperson of the LCR, France

Luc Quintin, Physiology (CNRS UMR 5123), France

Pierre Rousset, Europe Solidaire sans Frontieres
(ESSF), France.

Roseline Vachetta, former member of the European
Parliament, spokesperson of the LCR, France.

Sign this appeal now and get others to do the same.
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