ballay ballay,
ho ballay ballay,
asan judgaan di bahali waikhni,
PCO dian jarran kata kay,
judgaan di bahali waikhni

(We want to see the judiciary restored; we will uproot the Provisional Constitutional Order)

ballay ballay,
ho ballay ballay,
bhae shehrian ne paye wakhtay,
policaan beh gyan thaanay jaa kay,
shehrian ne paye wakhtay

(The citizens have rose to the occasion and now the police is in trouble)

ballay ballay,
ho ballay ballay,
bhae choraan nay judge dak laye,
saday bolan tay pabandian la kay,
choraan nay judge dak laye

(The thieves have caught the judges and put a ban on freedom of expression)

ballay ballay,
ho ballay ballay,
bhae tor muzahmat di,
kalay kapray tay kalay banner,
tor muzahmat di

(Look how well the protest is being carried out by the lawyers and other civil society members)

Full Story: DT

Download here.

The federal government on Tuesday imposed a ban on open debate on media curbs, suspension of judges and emergency in all colleges and universities in the country.

Well-placed sources said students of various universities and colleges in Islamabad, had been strongly protesting against emergency rule, curbs on the media and suspension of judges, for the last few days to express solidarity with the electronic media.

Taking notice of the situation, the federal government has banned debate in all colleges and universities and warned of strict action against violators.

Students, civil society activists and others have been continuously protesting against the imposition of emergency for the last 12 days.

Fourteen Teachers in Punjab University have been charged with sedition and the administration of FAST-NU has been threatened by Military Intelligence (MI) with closure, if they don’t stop the protests from taking place:

Military Intelligence has threatened the director of FAST, one of the country’s premier educational institutions, with closure of the university if students are not barred from holding protests, rallies or distributing anti-government pamphlets or blogging. An alumnus of the institution, an active member of the protest movement, on condition of anonymity said that their phones were being tapped, their activities monitored and they were on the ‘Red Line’. – The Emergency Times – Vol: 16

I wonder what’s next? Banning political debates in homes (or even dreams, the way he’s going).

Event: Student Protest Planning Committee (Lahore Chapter) Meeting
When: 22nd November, 07:00 pm
Where: Minigolf, Gulberg
To Bring: Friends from different universities/colleges/schools who are interested in organizing.

Source: The Emergency Times

So is ARY One World! Well, this isn’t exactly a ‘breaking news’ or something but I was amazed how many of my friends were unaware of their online live video streaming… those who thought Geo News had been completely blacked out would be glad to know that they can still watch the channel online. Use the links below or log on to their respective websites.

Geo News is currently testing on a new frequency. If you have a satellite dish antenna pointed towards Intelsat10/PAS10 then tune into the following frequency:
Frequency: 4154
Symbol Rate: 4410
Polarity: Horizontal
FEC: 3/4

Do read up a very good media-related post by IMB’s Fatima: Where Have All The Good Men Gone?

1 – People are being freed.
2 – Musharraf went to KSA for important talks (whatever it could be)
3 – Bush has also (in hidden words) given green signal in his last speech (which I don’t but many can relate)
4 – Finally IK is released

Why the hell (with due respect), Benazir is issuing the following statement:

Of course she wants to take full advantage of these facts in her own name and now (just before emergency could be lifted up – I wish) she is speaking out in all the Press and Media channels in rather an ORDERING tone: ‘Immediately end the emergency’.

Well, I have no conviction to run an anti-benazir campaign here. But indeed, she well knows how to play with words, media and knows well when to hit where! :)

However, IK’s (free from prison) story is down there somewhere, But BB’s demand is publishing with flying colours right on the top on Jang. Do I sound jealous!? :)

* Anyways, I hope it all ends soon. Highly improbable but I really wish to see IK win.

* My Biased opinion, not necessarily backed by Lahore Metblogs Guilders specifically.

Girls and boys were holding banners and playcards with their demands written on them while copies of anti-IJT movement’s objectives were distributed among the students and faculty. The document asked for removal of all political elements from the University’s campus and hostels as well as formation of a neutral students’ body with elected members good in academics as its caretakers.

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Participants of the rally were later joined by some senior professors, deans and directors of different institutes and university departments. Together they staged a sit-in protest in front of the Vice Chancellor’s office and asked for their demands to be fulfilled. The VC came out to deliver a lukewarm speech promising to remove political elements from the prestigious instituion though, did not answer the students’ call to openly speak on Jamiat. This was widely seen as a proof of the VC’s close association with the IJT and JI for he is known as an avid sympathizer of Jamaat himself.

All went safe except for an incident at the University’s Institute of Communication Studies where some members of the faculty including the institute’s director were manhandled and roughed up apparently by the anti-IJT protestors. People are strongly looking at it as a conspiracy by some elements who have joined the anti-IJT movement to create such situations and give this, otherwise a neutral and peaceful movement, a bad label.

Students of the Punjab University have decided to hold protests every Monday and Thursday until the IJT and its influence on campus is totally expelled.

And, stood in front of her, Imran’s younger tiger :)

Photo courtesy of Daily Mail

Read more on the story here and here.

Press Release, Tuesday 15/11/2007

“As our movement gains in strength, support, momentum and therefore, media attention, the students of the protest movement at the Lahore University of Management Sciences would like to clarify our position on a number of points.

Our movement is fundamentally a non-partisan, civil society movement which was begun by students last week as a spontaneous reaction against the imposition of a state of emergency in our country. We are united in a clear and principled commitment to the reinstatement of the judiciary and the restoration of the Constitution and of basic civil rights, the release of illegally detained prisoners and an end to preposterous curbs on the media. Our aim is to uphold and defend the autonomy of the judiciary in Pakistan. As we increase communication with students from other educational institutions in the country, we are confident and hopeful that we can all unite behind a particular principle – the critical necessity of the sovereignty of the judiciary for sustainable political and social development in Pakistan.”

“With regard to recent invitations to meetings with prominent political figures, we would like to assert that our student movement is a civil society initiative which is completely non-partisan, having no affiliation with any political party and no future ambition of forming one. Nor have our actions in any way been in accordance with the directives or motivation of any political leader. The participants of our student movement are all private individuals, with a diverse range of personal political leanings. As we have no student leaders who are invested with the right of representing the political leanings of a particular group of students, it is not within the power of any participant of
our movement to accept an invitation to meet with representatives of political parties on behalf of other students.

We would like to stress that anyone from the student movement who engages in a ‘dialogue’ or interaction with political parties, their agents or their student wings, does so solely in her/his personal capacity and does not, by any means, represent the student body of LUMS or the student community at large.

The purpose of our student movement is solely to rally around particular issues or principles and increase awareness of Pakistan’s socio-political realities in the student body. However, as university students, we are always very eager to widen our horizons and meet with different political figures. Our Law and Politics Society (LPS) frequently invites eminent personalities of politics, academia, the social sector and the media, and arranges seminars as an opportunity for the student body to intellectually engage with these individuals and benefit from their knowledge and experience. In the recent past, we have hosted such prominent figures as Mr. Talat Hussein (of Aaj TV), Mr. Imran Khan and Justice Jawad Khwaja. In the coming months before the elections, the Law and Politics Society plans to invite leading figures from major political parties to talk to our student body about their manifestos and ideas for Pakistan’s development. Some politicians, such as Mr. Imran Khan, with whom we have had the opportunity to interact, have already been invited for a seminar prior to the elections.

As far as the recent invitation by Muhtarma Benazir Bhutto is concerned, while it is not within the power of any individual or group of students to accept the invitation on behalf of the student movement, it would be a pleasure for our Law and Politics Society to host the Muhtarma as a guest speaker at a seminar with the entire student body, should our invitation be accepted.

With regard to the comment from Mr. Muhammad Islam of the Islami Jamiat-e Tuleba:-
“Muhammad Islam said IJT would launch a massive awareness campaign among students to mobilize them against the state of emergency in the country. He informed that the Islami Jamiat-e Tuleba was in contact with students of other universities including LUMS and FAST-NU.” (Students invoke black, week, armbands to protest. Khalid Khattak, The News International)

We would like to clarify that there have been no dealings between the student movement at our university and the Islami Jamiat-e Tuleba in an official capacity. We cannot, of course, comment on the activities of any private individual from our university, who has engaged with the IJT in a purely personal capacity.”

- Student Movement at LUMS