Beginning of the end of the government?

There was a strange scene in the streets of Lahore after the provincial government allowed 22 organisations to stage a protest march under the banner of Tahaffuz-e-Namoos-e-Rasalat Mahaz against the publication of blasphemous cartons published in newspapers of Denmark and other European countries.

If the government ignored the fiery speeches of the Mahaz leaders on the issue over the past months its permission to allow a rally was bound to backfire.

The citizens of Lahore had to pay heavily for it. The damage the city suffered could be compared only to the disorder of 1977, which led to the toppling of the government in power. After the violence in Lahore on February 14, there was looting and vandalism in Peshawar, the capital of NWFP. At least two people died in and scores were injured.

Lahore saw more violence on February 15 in and around the Punjab University campus when the Islami Jamiat-e-Tulaba, the student wing of the Jamaat-e-Islami, decided to take to the streets. A showdown between the IJT and the law enforcement agencies led to two deaths. At least 20 people were injured.

Thousands of youths of schools and colleges, clad in uniforms and some carrying their satchels, stormed Faisal Chowk, while groups of 35 to 50 youngsters staged separate protests all over the city. Over 400 markets and business centres in the city were already closed to observe a strike called by religious groups and opposition parties and backed by trade associations.

The demonstrators shouted slogans denouncing President Pervez Musharraf, US President George Bush and European leaders. They burnt tyres and wood on the roads and Chowks across the city. They also tore down large posters of General Pervez Musharraf and the visiting Bangladeshi Prime Minister Khaleda Zia.

On The Mall, rioters torched hundreds of cars and motorcycles and damaged government buildings and private businesses. Outlets of foreign fast food companies, like McDonald's, KFC and Pizza Hut, as well as several local restaurants and businesses were attacked and set on fire. Several shops and travel agencies were stormed and looted.

The demonstrators entered the Punjab Assembly and torched a room next to the opposition leader's chamber. The very next day of the protest, the government blamed that PML-N leader Khawaja Saad Rafique was involved in the assembly incident but the matter was resolved.

The police were not present when the mob resorted to violence. When it reached the scene afterwards, it simply stood around and watched as public and private property was being damaged. The destruction looked planned and the mob knew what it had to do. Many people used handguns for firing.

On Davis Road, they literally joined their guns and fired shots in volleys. Those who were busy breaking into shops and banks were youths who loot citizens during the night while posing as the followers of religious parties during the day.

Intelligence sources said that the chain of violent incidents was orchestrated by a group of trained young activists of religious organisations. They charged that activists belonging to student wings of the Jamaatud Daawa, the Islami Jamiat-e-Talaba and Shabab-e-Milli of the Jamaat-e-Islami gave the destruction a professional touch. Groups of at least 35 men each carried out most of violence, including burning and ransacking of buildings across Lahore.

The main group travelled around in a maroon jeep and motorcycles, and most of its members had long hair, wore beards and were clad in commando uniforms. The Jamaatud Daawa flag hung atop the jeep and motorcycles. All of them were trained and many had been summoned to Lahore from other cities. They were armed with petrol bombs, firecrackers, small weapons and explosives.

The Punjab Chief Minister says he will join the two protests announced by religious parties, including one scheduled for March 3. He has also announced, in a contradictory statement, that rallies will remain banned unless they are given official permission.

The protests are clearly aimed at bringing the Musharraf regime down. Will the ruling party still try to shake hands with elements whose real intent is no longer disguised?

Meanwhile, these protests looked like a combination of a host of factors and hidden agendas. For instance, in Peshawar, protesters gutted a hospital. When a reporter was asked by a TV anchorperson why people should have burnt down a hospital and wanted to know which hospital it was, the viewers were told that the hospital belonged to the Aga Khan Foundation. This is unfortunate because it brings in the sectarian dimension to this sorry episode.

The MMA leaders, especially Qazi Hussain Ahmed, have increasingly been resorting to verbal violence against the Ismaili community. Qazi's statements are on record and cannot be denied. Now, in the cover of these protests, some people seem to have found the opportunity to unleash their violent on a hospital run by the Foundation.

The Special Branch and intelligence agencies grossly underestimated the size of Tuesday's protest rallies in Lahore, which turned into riots.
According to a security plan presented by the superintendent of police (security) to the city police chief and the Punjab government, only 4,000 to 5,000 protesters were expected at the rally and only 700 police personnel were needed. However, some 50,000 people took part in the bloody protests.

The security plan called for the deployment of 35 reserve battalions, about 700 personnel, along the route of the procession. Another 35 reserve battalions were deputed at the outer cordon on important points of the procession route.

Some 50,000 people gathered at Data Darbar at the start of the procession, besides several small streams of protesters who were either on their way to join the main procession or later broke into small groups to vandalise properties.

There was a strange scene at the end of the rally when there was no difference between an ordinary anti-riot cop and the top official of police when every member was beating and arresting the protesters.

Capital City Police Officer Khwaja Khalid Farooq and SSP (Investigation) Ch Shafqaat Ahmad were seen beating ordinary passers-by with clubs taking them as protesters. "I am not a participant of the rally and was just passing by when a policeman thrashed me with his club," a 70-year-old man recounted his ordeal to the reporters around and pointed his finger towards CCPO Khawaja Khalid Farooq when he was asked to pinpoint the cop who had beaten him up.

Several innocent people were arrested only because of their crime of passing by the Mall Road that virtually had become a battlefield. In the beginning of the rally, the police kept playing a role of merely spectator and when the crowd was dispersing the policemen launched a massive operation and tried to arrest everyone around.

The differences between the investigation and operation wings of the Lahore police were also observed during the incident and it was clearly a failure of the establishment, especially the Lahore police.

JI Amir Qazi Hussain Ahmad has also announced a protest in the federal capital and it seems that he wants to gain some political mileage through the move and political analysts believed that if the protest was held it might be the start of the end of the government.

by Kamran Rajput