On the morning of June 25th, 1972, Comrade Tariq Ali, a member of the International Executive Committee of the Fourth International and the political bureau of its British section, was arrested at Karachi airport, held for five hours and then expelled from the country. Comrade Ali is a Pakistani citizen and was intending to spend a few months in the country discussing with political associates and meeting members of his family. The police officials at the airport informed Tariq Ali that the order for his expulsion was part of a series of orders issued against him by the Yahya Khan military dictatorship because of his activities in support of the Bengali liberation struggle. Comrade Ali strongly protested his explusion and issued a statement to the press, which we publish below. In Pakistan itself his explusion has received wide publicity and has been condemned by all the groups on the left. Meanwhile legal action against the Pakistan government is being considered and supporters are being requested to send cables protesting the expulsion to the Minister for Law, who was a member of the International War Crimes Tribunal on Vietnam and, in the past, was well-known for his defence of civil liberties. Telegrams should be sent to:
Mahmud Ali Kasuri, Minister for Law, Government of Pakistan, ISLAMABAD Press Statement The decision to prevent me from entering Pakistan, despite the fact that 1 am a Pakistani citizen and hold a Pakistani passport, represents a gross violation of civil liberties which the present regime claims to defend in Pakistan. The fact that my expulsion was carried out by police officials who blatantly stated that they were simply carrying out orders issued by the military dictatorship of General Yahya Khan, clearly shows that in the art of repression, as in many other fields, the present government is simply continuing the policies of its predecessors. Yahya and the clique of Generals who helped himrule Pakistan are no longer in power, but many of the laws with which they governed continue to remain in force today and are also applied from time to time as my expulsion clearly indicates. 1 have been prevented from entering my country, but what are the charges against me? The main accusation levelled against me is that I unceasingly and relentlessly opposed the genocidal war waged by the Pakistan Army against the Bengali people. That I wrote articles in The Red Mole and numerous other publications, defending the right of the Bengali people to national self-determination and urging support for the struggle against the military dictatorship of Yahya Khan. To this and other related charges 1 plead "guilty" and am quite prepared to defend myself before the Pakistani workers, poor peasants and students, who alone have the right to judge my actions. But my expulsion cannot hide the fact that the real criminals are still free and have not even been brought to trial, leaving aside the question of their continued residence in Pakistan. These are the military and civil officers who unleashed the war against Bengal thinking that they could drown the Bengali national movement in blood and thereby save their own skins. Some of those whose crimes were too blatant even for the Pakistani ruling class, have been dismissed or forcibly retired. Others continue to hold office even today. And if Pakistan is not allowed to be contaminated by those who, like myself. supported the struggle of the Bengali people 'against Yahya's oppression and continue to support it even today against the repression of the Awami League, why is the Pakistani President in India talking with Mrs Indira Gandhi, the very person who engineered the military defeat of the Pakistan army. Red T-Shirts I enclose £1.25 + 5p. p&p Large Medium Small Name...
Address..
Bulk order: 4 or more, 20% discount.Payment in advance. Post free.
Money orders to Red Mole, 182 Pentonville Road, London N.1.
The