In West Pakistan unfortunately the roots of exploitation run deeper. The Zamindar who dominates the and has ruled these regions first as an agent of the British and then in his own right for over a century. No mere parliament or constitutional development is going to demolish his power. Rural West Pakistan will have to wade through a sea of strife before this class relaxes its hold on the land. It is only when the peasant wins his land, when the link between the bureaucrat and the Zamindar is broken, that true democracy can take root in the village and consequently in West Pakistan.
To the same extent Big Business is equally entrenched. Whilst he began as an immigre junior partner in the ruling alliance, he has worked his way to senior status. Today he owns land and has Zamindars as his partners in industry as well as the cocktail lounge. Burcaucrats rise and fall at his whim as their alliance is fertilized by blood and money. No legislative bill will nationalize even a single shop in West Pakistan let alone banks and industry, until this closely knit alliance is broken. Many battles will have to be fought and these not at the polls, before this lot hands over the keys to the safe.
This is not to say that the last uprising has not shaken their confidence. The more farsighted of the 22 families are already expanding their operations to the international sphere in anticipation of the moment of reckoning. But they still feel that this is yet to come and will spend freely to defer it. Before the final pull out they will however go down with guns firing, in the knowledge that the zamindars and bureaucrats will be besides them at the barricades.
Autonomy for East Pakistan and from their social revolution can be a lot closer than for the West. This however should not minimize the commitment of the people in the West to our struggle. In East Pakistan, for the first time the grip of the power elite stands to be broken. Their first defeat will demoralize them as much as it will inspire the people of West Pakistan. With their pastures of exploitation seriously narrowed by the loss of East Pakistan they will have to intensify their exploitation of the West to compensate themselves. This will merely heighten the contradictions within West wing society at a time when the people's consciousness is at high tide. The confrontation may be violent but no one will deny that it will come sooner, once their hold begins to disintegrate in one wing. When people today talk of the unity and integrity of Pakistan what they really fear for is the unity and integrity of the exploiting class. Amongst the people of both wings there will always be unity. Let them unite in the common struggle for justice to East Pakistan and social revolution for the nation.
