Advocate Ehsan Ali, chairman of the Awami Action Committee (AAC) of Gilgit-Baltistan, was arrested on the night of 10 March after police raided his home in Gilgit. In the days that followed, the homes of several other AAC leaders were raided and four more detained: Nusrat Hussain, Mehboob Wali, Nafees Advocate and Mehar Ali. Two further leaders, Asghar Shah and Waheed Hassan, have also been indicted and raids are being carried out to find them.
Their alleged offence? Holding a meeting of the AAC leadership over an iftar dinner to discuss the organisation’s work and plan protests against the plunder of Gilgit-Baltistan’s resources. For this, they have been charged under the Anti-Terrorism Act, alongside sections 153-A and 506 of the Pakistan Penal Code, which deal with inciting violence.
Let that be stated plainly – these leaders have been charged with terrorism for organising a peaceful protest in defence of their community’s rights. This is an assault on the most basic freedoms of assembly, association and expression — rights that are the foundation of every trade union and workers’ organisation in the world.
A pattern of repression
This is not the first time the Pakistani state has moved against these activists. Ehsan Ali and other AAC leaders were arrested last year and subjected to months of torture and humiliation. They were only released after a determined solidarity campaign across Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan and internationally, which forced the government’s hand. That campaign showed what collective action and solidarity can achieve — and it is needed once again.
The state is also using the cover of regional conflict to intensify its attacks on democratic rights. Last year, tensions with India provided the pretext. Now, the escalating war in Iran and the Gulf, driven by US military intervention, is being used as a fresh excuse to clamp down on dissent across Pakistan.
The economic backdrop
These arrests take place against a backdrop of a deepening economic crisis for ordinary people. The government has imposed the largest fuel price hike in the country’s history, raising petrol prices by Rs 55 ($0.20). This single measure will deliver around Rs 113 billion ($405 million) in windfall profits to oil marketing companies. The cost could have been offset by taxing big business, but instead the entire burden has been placed on working people — driving poverty, unemployment and hardship to new depths.
At the same time, mass protests in Gilgit-Baltistan against the US-led war on Iran were brutally suppressed by state authorities. More than 14 people were killed, mainly in Gilgit and Skardu. Ehsan Ali and the AAC condemned this state violence and visited the injured in the hospital. He has also been actively working to prevent sectarian division in the region, bringing together people from different communities to maintain peace.
Yet it is Ehsan Ali who stands charged with inciting violence, while those responsible for killing 14 protesters face no consequences whatsoever.
An injury to one is an injury to all
The situation in Gilgit-Baltistan is not an isolated case. It reflects a broader offensive by Pakistan’s ruling elite against any organised opposition to its policies. All mainstream political parties have fallen into line behind the interests of big business and the state. None are offering a voice for working people.
This is precisely why international labour solidarity matters. When governments use anti-terror legislation to criminalise peaceful protest and lock up community organisers, it is an attack on the rights of workers everywhere. The same laws and tactics used against the AAC today can be — and are being — turned against trade unions and workers’ organisations across the globe.
We call on trade unions, labour movement organisations and all defenders of democratic rights to:
- Demand the immediate release of Ehsan Ali, Nusrat Hussain, Mehboob Wali, Nafees Advocate, Mehar Ali and all political prisoners in Gilgit-Baltistan
- Send messages of protest to the Pakistani government and its embassy in your country
- Pass motions of solidarity in your union branches, trades councils and labour movement bodies
- Raise the case with your elected representatives and demand they speak out against the misuse of anti-terror laws to suppress legitimate protest
The right to organise, to protest and to fight for justice is universal. When that right is under attack anywhere, it is under attack everywhere.
An injury to one is an injury to all.
Free Ehsan Ali! Release all political prisoners!