Journeys to democracy

PRESS RELEASE

Communist Party of Pakistan strongly condemns the audacious targeted killing of Comrade Latifullah Khan, member CPP in village Gandigar, District Dir, Pukhtoonkhwa province.

Since the start of Taliban and fanatics insurgency in Khyber Pukhtoonkhwa (ex. NWFP) province, a planned holocaust of the enlightened and educated people is underway. The sheer oblivion of the state intentionally keeps this area backward in education and development of infrastructure, which has contributed to the rise in Islamic fanaticism and jingoism (once sponsored by the state of Pakistan through its international donors from Saudi Arabia and USA and allied countries).

The insurgency of Taliban in the region since last year has destroyed over 1,100 schools and educational institutions in the area; school teachers and school going children are mercilessly targeted and killed in a large number on a daily basis.

Comrade Latifullah Khan, 36, belonged to District Dir upper. He was an educationist and the one enlightened person in the education department consisting mostly of obscurantists. Comrade Latifullah was an active progressive student leader and a member of the district cell of the Progressive Pukhtoonkhwa Front (linked to the Communist Party of Pakistan).

Comrade Latifullah Khan was gunned down on the afternoon of Nov 26, 2010,while returning home from work in his ancestral village Gandigar. We believe he was murdered by ‘Islamic’ fanatics, in order to silence the last candle of enlightenment and progressive thought in the area.

After several narrow escapes from targeted attempts on the life of the provincial secretary Comrade Dr Shafiq since 2006, he had gone into hiding. The PPF (CPP) had gradually ceased political activity in all districts of the province especially since January 2009 after FM radio announcements named those progressive, intellectual workers who had been marked for death by the Taliban.

A huge number of PPF (CPP) members were barbarically killed – their throats slit or burnt to death – as already outlined in previous press briefings.

Comrade Latifullah Khan remained committed to his professional duties and the party did not keep contact with him for his own safety. It may be noted that since early 2009 this area has been under Taliban control, forcing 3.7 million people to abandon their homes and take shelter in refugee camps near Peshawar and surrounding districts.

The Communist Party of Pakistan condemns in the strongest possible words this heinous killing of Comrade Latifullah Khan. We ask the international community to take note of the rampant “intellecticide” in the region as not a day passes without the target killing or kidnapping of a university professor, chancellor, doctor, enlightened teacher or a leftist, democratic, progressive political worker. We demand that the government of Pakistan to save the lives honor and properties of its citizens that it has so far miserably failed to do.

CPP expresses its profound pain and grief over the loss of Comrade Latif. We send our sincere condolences to the bereaved family, comrades and friends over this irreparable loss. We vow to pursue the dreams of the martyr, to emancipate his people from the clutches of exploitation and obscurantism, and to struggle for the defeat of the stooges of imperialism, capitalism and regression.

Issued by CPP Central Committee .
26.11.2010.

Communist Party of Pakistan
Central Secretariat: D-168, Naseem Nagar Phase-III, Hyderabad, Sindh.
Phone: +92-22-2654531, Fax: +92-22-2654531, Mob: +92-333-2714014, +92-300-3065723,
E-Mail: cppak2003@yahoo.com Web: http://www.cppak.org

Filed under: Pakistan northern areas | Tagged: communist party pakistan, Comrade Latifullah Khan, cpp, Dir, intellecticide, murder, Taliban |