On December 4 representatives of all the progressive and left-wing student organizations and factions in Kashmir participated in a meeting organized by the Marxist faction of the JKNSF (Jammu Kashmir National Students' Federation) at the Rawalpindi press club. More than fifty delegates of the JKPSF (Jammu Kashmir People's Student Federation), the KSLF (Kashmir Students' Liberation Front), JKPSO (Jammu Kashmir People's Student Organisation) attended the meeting and formed a united front under the name of the Jammu Kashmir Revolutionary Youth Alliance. The JKRYA will launch a joint struggle against the state authorities who have failed to provide the urgent relief and aid to the devastated areas of Kashmir after the earthquake on October 8.
The marvelous work done by the Marxists of the JKNSF, with the collaboration of the PTUDC, has proven to the youth of Kashmir that the Marxists are the only political force that can offer the Kashmiri masses a way out from their sufferings and miseries. The idea of a united front, initiated by the Marxists, was widely appreciated among the youth. The progressive and left-wing youth and student organizations responded very positively to the idea.
Comrade Adil chaired the meeting. He explained briefly the present situation in Kashmir where the Pakistani army has failed to provide the urgent necessities and relief goods to the survivors of the earthquake, who have been forced to live without proper shelter and food in freezing temperatures. The main political groups and parties have remained silent about this failure, because the earthquake has exposed the rottenness of capitalism, the failure of their polices, and has shaken their confidence. If they were to speak of these failures they would have to admit the failure of capitalism and their own failure.
In this situation, it is now the duty of the revolutionary youth to unite and fill this vacuum, which was the main purpose of the meeting. More than 20 delegates participated in the discussion including Raja Ijaz, Naveed Hayat, S.M. Ibrahim, Babrik Sharif, Sohail, Raja Faisal Azad, Zia Qamar, Amjad, Tasleem and comrade Shujahat Kazmi. The delegates agreed to launch a joint struggle based on the following demands:
1. All relief and reconstruction work should be done under the control of the people's committees in the affected areas and the state should provide them with all the necessary funds, skills, machinery, and labour required to carry out this work.
2. Fully equipped field hospitals must be constructed on a priority basis to provide efficient, adequate, and free medical care to all who need it in the areas affected by the earthquake.
3. There is an urgent need for the construction of new educational institutions to replace the facilities destroyed in the earthquake. Education should be provided for free at all levels for at least three years in the areas devastated by the earthquake.
These were the main demands of the Jammu Kashmir Revolutionary Youth Alliance. Several other demands surrounding the question of the urgent needs of the survivors of the quake were passed, including a demand for the withdrawal of NATO troops from the region.
A 12-member working committee was elected, which will be composed of representatives from all four of the main federations. Comrade Adil was elected as convener of the Alliance. The delegates also decided to produce a leaflet and a poster with a list of the demands approved by the Alliance. The working committee announced that December 13 will be a day of action and protests are being organized for that day in all the affected areas and across the rest of Kashmir.
The launching of the united front of youth under the leadership of the Marxists is a huge step forward in the process of building a mass revolutionary force in Kashmir.
