By Farooq Sulehria
LAHORE — Since Pakistan and India have gone nuclear, August 6 — Hiroshima Day — has become an important day for peace activists. In both India and Pakistan, socialists are in the forefront of the peace movement.
Hiroshima Day was observed for the second year by peace activists in Lahore under the banner of the Joint Action Committee for People's Rights. The committee is made up of more than 20 non-government organisations and left parties, including the Labour Party Pakistan (LPP).
The 500-strong demonstration was held at the Mall, the busiest road in the city. The demonstrators carried placards and chanted slogans such as "Bread not bombs, homes not tombs!", "Education not bombs! Jobs not bombs! We demand a nuclear free world!".
LPP activists had come in minibuses from across Lahore. For most of the 250 LPP activists who attended, this was their first experience of such a demonstration. They carried placards stating, "For peace we must overthrow capitalism".
The 30-minute demonstration was followed by street theatre performed by the LPP's culture wing. The play, titled Aman Kay Musafir (Travellers of Peace) revolved around the horrors of the bombing of Hiroshima by the United States in 1945.
This year's August 6 peace demonstration was particularly important because the Pakistani state and government were spreading war mania during the Kargil crisis and warlike situation on the border.
It was also important because the government has been harassing Joint Action Committee members. For the last two years, the committee has vocally opposed the Nawaz Sharif government's shameful performance on issues such as provincial autonomy, women's rights, media freedom and democratic rights.
The government has been targeting the NGOs in the committee for harassment, but the demonstration showed that the committee will keep on fighting.
Peace demonstrations were held also in Islamabad and Karachi on August 6. While the peace movement is not yet able to mobilise millions of people against nuclear weapons, such smaller actions are causing a change in people's consciousness.
While the government has been trying to convince the population that its new nuclear capacity has made Pakistan "a great nation", the economic hardships are making people realise that they need, not nukes, but bread and jobs.