ISLAMABAD: The joining of hands of religious extremists and the ‘establishment since the 1980s has imposed a moral compass that has de-humanized the state and the leftist resistance politics must strive to set it right by negating the narrative of the rightist elements.

This was stated by PPP Secretary General and former senator Farhatullah Babar at a memorial reference held by the Awami Workers Party (AWP) to pay homage to their president Yousuf Masti Khan at the National Press Club in Islamabad, Tuesday evening.

Yousuf Masti Khan died a few days ago.

He said that when blood is shed in the name of religion and ethnicity the relevance of the Left which glorifies none of it becomes more important to challenge the narrative of the religious extremists and establishment combined.

The beleaguered Left must ponder over the causes of its decline and re-group itself to reverse the slide set in motion since the 80’s, he said.

Given the weakening of resistance politics, resistance journalism and the retreat of organized labour and civil society on the one hand and the establishment's clinging to status quo the Left is a beacon of hope, he said.

Farhatullah Babar also called upon the Left to revisit its standard chant of denouncing everything which though emotionally appealing it loses focus on the real threats to the state and society from religious militants.

Chants of “down with imperialism” is right but only if imperialism is a tumbling block in achieving a reform agenda. Why, for example, raise slogans against imperialism in defence of the rights of farmers of Okara, he asked? The chant must be raised against the usurpers of lands, he said.

The Left's chief weapon is discussion, debate and reasoned dissent, while that of the Right is self-righteousness in the name of religion. The Left will matter to Pakistan only if it chooses to pick its fight against religious extremism, he said.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022