Lahore Metblogs » Lawyer’s Movement

Lahorified; the Long March proceeds towards Islamabad

Hasan Mubarak — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 21:50:02 +0000

As Lahorites defied a virtual curfew in the city; Nawaz Sharif, his followers and the lawyers broke through all obstacles in their resolve to continue with the long march towards Islamabad’s Constitution Avenue.

Police baton-charging protestors on the Mall

The day had started with whole city celebrating the kite-flying festival of Basant while the security forces cracked down on lawyers and protestors gathering at GPO Chowk near the Lahore High Court. All prominent political activists and lawyers’ leaders including Mr.Nawaz Sharif and Barrister Aitezaz Ahsan were put under house arrest by official orders from the capital.

Nawaz Sharif addressing before leaving his Model Town residence

Nawaz Sharif after addressing his followers at his Model Town residence flouted the house-arrest and by people’s force on his side, proceeded towards Yadgar via Model Town Morr, Kalma Chowk, Muslim Town Morr, Ichhra, Mozang Chungi, and Data Darbar. Procession of lawyers followed under the leadership of Ahsan. Police after showing considerable resistance later backed off giving clear way to thousands of vehicles, motor-bikes and people on foot who continued their march in full zeal and spirit.

History has proven whenever people of this city take it to streets, change comes following. After today’s show of the people’s power, we might hear good news of political stability and reconciliation soon…

Images Courtesy: BBC News

Basant night unfolds despite Long March

Hasan Mubarak — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 21:27:31 +0000

Lahore has sadly been put under siege by the so-called saviors of democracy. All entry points to the city have been cordoned off to prevent any of the lawyers from reaching Lahore. According to its original schedule, Long March is to continue from Lahore to Islamabad on Sunday. In a ridiculous move, the current Punjab Government has officially announced Lahore’s most celebrated event; Basant to be held on Sunday too.

Reports are that despite all the chaos around, people in Lahore are celebrating Basant Night tonight. Get-togethers, parties and kite-flying competitions have been arranged on very short notice in Old Lahore as well as other parts of the city. And we even hear that two people have already died, thanks to deadly wire-strings that some people use to fly kites.

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I don’t even know whether we are too indifferent or is it really not important to miss an opportunity to have fun with family and friends. On the other hand, we have history’s most shameful events uncovering as hard-core crackdown on lawyers, political activists and members of the civil society continues. More serious news is coming from blogger updates warning that the government might be blocking all mobile phone services and fuel supply as well as closing down all acadmeic institutions to thwart Long March’s progression. (Please note that these updates are not confirmed yet).

Long March as it happens

Hasan Mubarak — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 14:15:49 +0000

Police block a street in Lahore ahead of Long March

Photo Courtesy: SeeNReport

The Government has literally let lose all patience in stopping lawyers, political activists, members of the civil society and the common people from reaching Islamabad for the lawyer’s mass sit-in. In Karachi, the launchpad of the march, we saw authorities blocking highways, baton-charging marchers and mass arrests of the participants. Situation may spiral out of control as there are reports of further clashes, protests, arrests and cars being set on fire in the metropolis.

Situation might not be different in Punjab and rest of the Sindh province, where Section 144 was imposed restricing public gatherings and processions of any sorts, as the march proceeds towards Islamabad.

Bloggers around the country are providing hand-on news of the Long March as it happens. Teeth Maestro is doing live coverage of the march by getting updates from people using wide number of sources and means including Twitter.

You can watch further citizen journalism updates on SeeNReport’s Long March page.

And the showdown begins

Hasan Mubarak — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 18:04:25 +0000

Effective from today, Section 144 has been imposed throughout Punjab to bar public gatherings, protests or processions of the lawyers movement and their supporters. The Long March is to begin simultaneously from Karachi and Quetta on March 12 to reach Lahore on the 14th and arriving at Islamabad’s Constitution Avenue on March 16.

By official orders, army has been called in 30 while rangers in 11 districts of the Punjab province giving a clear sign that the Government seriously does not want things to proceed so easily. Security forces have also started search operations for prominent leaders to put them behind bars or under house arrest while the PML(N) leadership is asking the civil administration to not obey the ‘illegitimate’ orders.

Interior Minister, Rehman Malik, has on the other hand warned of dire consequences to law-breakers and anyone causing social unrest or igniting a security situation in the capital. For security reasons, he has also proposed the organizers of the Long March to chose a venue other than the sensitive Constitution Avenue. Lawyers rejected the government’s concern by guaranteeing that there will not be any law and order violation and crowds will be behaving according to a pre-defined code of march.

Both fronts are determined to their respective ambitions causing anxiety and fear of mass political or security instability in an already weakened nation. And unfortunately, our leaders have yet to realize how bad the situation for Pakistan has really become.

Lahoris on the move…

Opee — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 16:05:08 +0000

… Standing united with rest of Pakistan

FAST Rising, the student activist group of National University (FAST), Lahore who are supporting Lawyers, Imran Khan and Aitezaz’s stance are moving ahead with the flood of believers. The floodgates are wide opened: massive rallies in Karachi and Sakkar, huge receptions in Multan and Lahore, panic-stricken politicians trying to figure the odds to ensure that they end up on the winning side whatever the outcome, it’s all happening this week in Pakistan. The Long March is sweeping through the country, filtering out the living from the dead, FAST Rising reports.

– as they say: Hum Mulk Bachanay niklay hain…

They’re on the move – and they’re not stopping until their objectives are met!

On a somewhat less spectacular note, there has been support, guidance and participation of respected professors of Lahore, Mr. Liaquat Majeed Sheikh (universally known as LMS) and Dr. Qaiser Durrani.