Demonstrations

Demonstrations and protests held across Pakistan and other countries

For newer additions and information received, the HRCP moderator will add them in the comments below on behalf of the informer. Other parties are welcome to leave their calls and comments as well.

Punjab University students to setup hunger-strike camp today DEC 11, 2007

LAHORE: Punjab University (PU) students on Tuesday (today) will set up a hunger-strike camp at the New Campus to protest against holding the constitution in abeyance, violating human rights, putting curbs on the media and arresting students. The camp would be set up outside the Institute of Communication Studies (ICS), ICS student Naveed Alam told Daily Times on Monday.

He said the PU students were upset over the prevailing political situation in the country. They were not convinced with the emergency rule, and the way human rights had been violated, he added. He said the student at the camp would educate their fellow students about the importance of the restoration of the constitution, human rights and freedom of the media.

The Students Action Committee (SAC), a group of students representing 21 different universities and colleges of the city, has set up a hunger-strike camp outside the Lahore Press Club since last Saturday demanding release of the arrested students.

ISLAMABAD Nov 12, 2007: School students roughed up and arrested at silent protest

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BOSTON NOV 10, 2007 – Pakistani students from local universities and colleges held a very successful protest rally at the Boston Commons. The rally was attended by about 200 people. The students had the full support of Boston’s Pakistani expatriate community. Boston area Academicians, Lawyers and Physicians attended and spoke at the rally. Students at Harvard, MIT and Bunker Hill Community College were among the key organizers of the rally to protest the attack against the judiciary, curbs against the media and the violence against lawyers, human right activists and students exercising their right of peaceful protest.

· Students from the Berklee College of music provided the percussion drums and synchronized the chants of AZAADI (freedom) in a show of solidarity with the Students, Judiciary, Journalists, Human Rights activists and Media in Pakistan.

· Emerson college students were in full force with video footage and interviewing of the crowd documenting the protest and the right for free speech and expression.

· Wellesley college girls were in the forefront holding banners and led the “march of the chain” in a symbolic message for the people of Pakistan who have been arrested and brutalized for speaking out.

· Brandies University students were accompanied by their Professor and program Director. She spoke in support of the students who were at the rally and encouraged them to exercise their rights of free speech and thought.

· Also in attendance was a group of students from the university of Massachusetts and Hamshire College at Amherst.

Saad Mustafa, a student at Bunker Hill Community college, made announcements during the protest. Aqil Sajjad, a Pakistani student at Harvard, highlighted the importance of an independent judiciary for the people of Pakistan and also stressed that the war against terror can not be won unless the country has a properly functioning judiciary commanding the respect of the masses. He criticised the US policy of supporting dictators in the country and said that the US had to decide whether it was with the people of Pakistan or with the dictator. Arooj Aftab, a Pakistani student at the Berklee College of music, spoke about how an environment of state oppression was extremely detrimental to creativity and made it difficult for artists like herself to operate. Rabeel Warraich, a Pakistani student at MIT, discussed the impact of the present crisis on the economy and how it was going to make life for the majority of Pakistanis living in poverty even tougher. Adaner Usmani, a Harvard student from Pakistan, linked the struggle of the Pakistani people with similar causes in the rest of the world.

Physicians from Tufts University and Massachusetts General Hospital such as Dr. Fauzia Afridi and Dr. Kimat Khattak addressed the students and highlighted the fact that most of their generation had grown up in Pakistan, knowing only totalitarian regimes and dictatorship in one form or another. They encouraged the youth of Pakistan to revive the Student Movements of their country and to work for a change to wards democracy. Dr. Khoso, son of Justice Khoso shared his family’s ordeal and the hardship his father had recently undergone along with the arrest of his two brothers. Friends of South Asia were represented among others, by lawyers like Lubna Mahmood and Supreme Court Judge Dr. Aslam Khaki, who shared personal accounts of the brutalities their colleagues are facing. Poetry from Faiz, a prominent Pakistani poet, was eloquently sung by Mustafa Kamal Ahmed. Representatives from the International Action Center and other Human Rights Activists also addressed the crowd. Mr. Gabriel Camado spoke very eloquently and shared the struggles of his people in South America. Mary Najimi highlighted the support of the Arab American coalition for a US policy change in South Asia and the Middle East and promised to spread the message of solidarity amongst the local communities. Hassan Abbas was present and spoke to the media in favour of the Boston Students’ initiative and their message of support for the students in Pakistan. The event was also attended by local groups like the Alliance for a Secular and Democratic South Asia and officially endorsed by the Massachusetts chapter of the National Lawyers Guild, which is also planning to hold a demonstration on Tuesday, Nov 14 at the state house in Boston.

– Received by the Emergency mailing list
Emergency@lists.hcs.harvard.edu , http://lists.hcs.harvard.edu/mailman/listinfo/emergency

Demonstration at Agha Super Market, Clifton, Karachi
November 7, 2007 at 05:00 pm

Several activists of civil society and students from different colleges and universities suddenly appeared with placards and banners at Agha Super Market, Clifton, Karachi and staged a demonstration against Emergency / Martial Law / Military Rule today on November 7, 2007 at about 05:00 pm. The demonstrators chanted slogans against General Musharraf and strongly demanded thatAn independent election commission should be formed forthwith.

• Mr. Iftikhar Chaudhry, Chief Justice of Supreme Court of Pakistan and other judges of Supreme Court and high courts should immediately be re-instated.
• Independence of the judiciary must be restored with immediate effect.
• Curb on print and electronic media should be lifted;
• Lawyers, political and human rights activists arrested all over the country must immediately be released unconditionally;
• Freedom of association and political activities should not be curbed

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