The Lahore High Court Bar Association and the Lahore Bar Association organized a peaceful procession from the Lahore High Court to Faisal Chowk to protest the suspension of the chief justice of Pakistan, Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry. The procession, comprising 4,000 to 5,000 lawyers, was stopped at Regal Chowk by a large contingent of Punjab Police dressed in riot gear.
What happened next is best described in the words of an eyewitness, Rai Muhammad Saleh Azam. Mr. Azam was part of the protest:
“The police attacked the peaceful procession, which was planned to go from the Lahore High Court to Faisal Chowk and back. In between, the lawyers were peacefully walking on one side of The Mall, while traffick was moving smoothly on the other side. The people in the cars driving by were honking their horns and showing the victory sign in support. When the procession reached Regal Chowk, the police, without warning and without provocation lathi-charged the lawyers.
“About 200 or so lawyers were injured. After being attacked and seeing their fellow lawyers being brutally beaten, some lawyers retaliated, which they shouldn’t have. But the police is making it sound as if the lawyers attacked first. This is completely wrong.
“I myself received numerous injuries, including head and hand injuries. I was hit repeatedly (from behind) by police batons when I was simply walking back to the Lahore High Court.
“Senator Sardar Latif Khosa, who is a senior lawyer, was the most seriously injured with a head injury and his shirt was drenched in blood. You’ll all see his pictures in the newspapers tomorrow. Even women and aged lawyers were not spared by the police. I counted at least two dozen lawyers whose shirts were drenched in blood. The police were using bamboo batons to strike at the lawyers’ heads.
“The electronic media was there and it was all captured on camera.
“This is what is happening in Pakistan. It has turned into a complete Police State. The police used excessive and unwarranted force to dispurse what was a peaceful procession. Some lawyers then retaliated (quite wrongly) and hit back at the police. However, the majority remained peaceful.
“Even though I was personally at the receiving end of the batons of two policemen, I don’t hold any personal grudge against them because these poor guys are half-literate, poorly-paid recruits following orders. But I blame the Punjab Government and the Punjab Police.
“There is a thing in the Constitution called ‘Right of Association’, where people can gather together for peaceful purposes. And peaceful protest is a right in every democratic country. It happens in the USA and in Europe regularly. The media cameras recorded everything and some channels have already shown the footage of the police attacking the lawyers without provocation.
“I, too, was once pro-Musharraf. I confess that I welcomed the 1999 military take-over because of my disillusionment with Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto. But over the years, after seeing what has been happening to this country, I’ve been constrained to change my opinion of him and I have come to the conclusion that true democracy, no matter how bad, is still better than military rule because in democracy, even a bad Prime Minister can only transgress to a certain extent. When there is a military ruler, there are no limits to the transgression because there is no one to hold him accountable (except God).”
What we at White Band for Justice would like to know is:
1) Does the law dictate that the police baton-charge a peaceful demonstration — that the police use violence against unarmed citizens?
2) Does the law dictate that citizens cannot speak out against what they feel is wrong?
3) Is this how ”democracy” works?
4) WHEN WILL THIS END.
PS: I’ve got the pictures as well — I’ll upload them here in a while. The pictures will give a better understanding of what (or who) we’re up against.
