RAWA protests US gunboat diplomacy


The Statesman, February 25, 2003
Statesman Report

ISLAMABAD: Speakers of a protest rally held under the auspices of Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA) Monday urged the world community to play its due role in averting the US go-it-alone war against Iraq.

US President George W Bush on Sunday gave UN a new ultimatum: pass a resolution authorising force against Iraq within two months or America will Attack.

The speakers also asked the Muslim Ummah to help stop the attack which has large-scale political, social and economical implications not only for the Middle East but on the whole world.

The protesters marched to the United Nation office and presented a memorandum to the UN officials. They were carrying placards inscribed with anti-US slogans.

In view of the prevailing law and order situation in the country, heavy contingents of law enforcement agencies were deployed to avert any untoward event. The security personnel tried to disperse the protestors before they observe demonstration. Shala Hassan, RAWA executive member, while addressing the protesters said that the US wants to grab the Iraqi oilfields on the pretext of its much-advertised disarming Saddam.

But the people of the entire world, she added, know the US designs of reshaping the Middle East. “It is all about an oil game and to disarm Saddam is a good pretext to serve the purpose”, she added.

Shala maintained that the victims of the possible attack on Iraq would be the disadvantaged group including women and children.

She suggested that war is no solution to any issue and the US must come up with a political solution to the crisis.

“The example of the Afghanistan is before us and once the US forces cross the Iraq boundaries, no one is strong enough to get them out”, she asserted.

She criticised that the US is advocating democracy across globe but it has planted a government in Afghanistan which lacks popular support.

“The installation of Karzai administration under the Bonn Conference is what America is doing to safeguard its long-term interest in this part of the world” she commented.

“In pragmatic terms, he opined, democracy and the Karzai-led administration in Afghanistan are pole-apart”.

She claimed that on the one hand the US is talking of democracy, humanity and civil liberties, while on the other it is ignoring the wishes of its own people who marched on New York streets last week urging Bush not to attack Iraq.

“Millions of people around the world from Italy to Karachi took to the streets to protest potential US aggression for Iraq”, she added.

RAWA holds demo against possible US attack on Iraq

DAWN, Feb.25, 2003
By A Reporter

ISLAMABAD, Feb 24: The activists of Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA) staged an anti-war demonstration against the impending American attack on Iraq.

According to a statement issued here on Monday, the demonstrators highlighted the fact that people of the world were united against the hegemonistic regimes of the US and Britain.

The anti-war call is so strong that President Bush and Prime Minister Blair can not ignore it, the statement added.

"Peace-loving people of America and the world will not allow the Bush administration to misuse the 9/11 incident and impose war on poor nations."

Majority of the UN Security Council members have also emphasised on the continuation of the UN inspectors work, it said.

The participants were carrying banners and placards inscribed with anti-war and anti-US slogans. They were also holding the picture of the founder of RAWA, Meena, who was assassinated in 1978 and her killer was hanged recently in Pakistan.

The protesters were of the view that America was planning to attack Iraq to capture its oil reserves.

They questioned the validity of American claim that change of regime was to free the Iraqi people from the clutches of a 'tyrant dictator'.

"War against terrorism for democracy is now well-exposed to the people of Afghanistan where the US courted successive tyrants like Gulbuddin, Mullah Omar, Osama and recently installed the tyrannical rule of Northern Alliance in Kabul," they said.

The change of government in every country is the duty of its people, otherwise the government will not sustain for a long time, they added.

The demonstrators said war against Iraq would be a repetition of the Gulf War tragedy in which Saddam survived but the war resulted in the death of hundreds of innocent Iraqis.

"The Afghan children ask that if the US wants to dethrone Saddam then why it has imposed criminals and professional terrorists worse than Saddam in Afghanistan," the statement said.

"Why the US, the self-proclaimed champion of democracy, has closed its eyes to the atrocities of Israel against innocent Palestinians," it added.

RAWA opposes possible US war on Iraq

Khyber Mail, Feb.25, 2003
Khyber Mail Report

Revolutionary association of the women of Afghanistan (RAWA) has said 'war against terrorism for democracy ' is the excuse for attack on Iraq but at least the people of Afghanistan are well aware of the nature of such claims.

A RAWA press release issued here on Monday said that again the world has been plunged into a new scary and terrifying nightmare. The US and its allies are willing to destroy Saddam Hussain's regime.

"The regime, which they had supported in the war against Iran." It added. By doing this they would repeat the tragedy of Gulf war in which Saddam survived but war caused the death to hundred of thousands of innocent Iraqi people.

The press release said that Gulbuddin Hikmatyar was once a blue-eyed boy, which shows that the recent stand and announcement of the America against this hangman is meaningless. "This was followed by support to Osama and Mullah Omar, and now the western support has shifted towards the Northern Alliance." It lamented.

The press release added that the US could not do better then this selfishness and double standard to achieve its own interests in the region. The Iraqi people suffered and were pushed to the sideline due to Saddam regime; however, it does not mean one usurper should take place of another through military intervention. Change of the government in each country is the duty of its people, otherwise it will not be stable to sustain for a longer time.

The press release said these questions even comes to the mind of Afghan children the if the US wants to destroy Saddam Hussain, then why it imposes war criminals and professionals terrorists on Afghanistan who ate no less terrorists in anyway?

It said that if the US consider Saddam a threat to peace and security of the world and region and have the intention to disarm Iraq, then why it supports Israel which is equipped with atomic weapons and id the butcher of Palestine people?

Why the US government without any strong evidence and facts, claimed that the regime of Iraq has connections with Al-Qaida? Why the US government calls itself the champion of democracy, but doesn't pay any heed to the call of millions of anti-war people around the globe, it questioned.

The press release said answer to all these questions ate crystals clear because the US is wholly solely interested in oil. But what is clear in today's world is the stand and wishes of the majority of the people that are separate from their government, it maintained. The people of the world and the US would not allow Bush administration to misuse the 11th September incident and in their name and under the banner of democracy, impose war and bring catastrophe on the poor and suffered people of Iraq.

It added just now the antiwar slogans are strong in the US itself and in all over the world. It said that Bush and Tony Blair couldn't overlook and ignore such slogans for peace.

Majority of the UN Security Council's members also, while standing against jingoism, emphasized on the continuation of the UN inspectors work.

---

[Home Page] [Photos of the Rally] [RAWA in the Media] [RAWA Statement against war]