In an uncivilized turn of events, the chief of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, Imran Khan was manhandled at the Punjab University Campus today. He was later arrested by the police. A group of students kept him detained on the campus and later turned him over to the police. According to Dawn’s Report:
Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaaf chairman Imran Khan was arrested from outside the Punjab University’s new campus on Wednesday after he had been manhandled and detained in the campus allegedly by activists of the Islami Jamiat Talaba. Imran Khan had gone to the university at the invitation of a joint action committee of students.
The visit had been approved by Qazi Hussain Ahmed, chief of Jamaat-i-Islami, to which the IJT is affiliated. On his arrival at the campus, the PTI chief was confronted reportedly by a group of IJT activists who kicked him around and punched him. They took him to a room in the Centre for High Energy Physics and detained him there for about 45 minutes.
This is an interesting (and sad) turn of events. Imran Khan‘s party and the mother party of IJT are both partners in APDM. Imran and Qazi have been seen together in many media photo shoots for the past year or so. Will today’s action by IJT guys will cause long term bad-blood between the two parties? It is left to be seen.
We strongly believe that inspite of political differences, no person deserves physical bashing and humiliation as was met out to Imran. Political differences should never be taken to such extreme where people use force to get their point across. It is wrong. Shame on those who manhandled him. I was recently reading an article on political bashing in the Wall Street Journal. It had a punch line which just kept resonating with me. It read:
Our politics suffer when passions overcome reason and vitriol becomes virtue.
Details on Imran‘s manhandling can be read here, here, here and here.
First protest at NCA
About 150 students at NCA held a peaceful protest yesterday. They are planning to hold a demonstration everyday and have expressed full solidarity with other student activists, especially the ones at LUMS.
Also from the emergency times:
IJT’s bigotry & food for thought for Imran
By Supreme Court
Hopelessness and despondency seem to have an air of inevitability in the current national ambience. The slightest good that materializes has to come tumbling down. We had a judiciary that was finally asserting itself as a bastion of civil rights only to be unceremoniously sabotaged, sacked and sent packing to Neverland. The more foolhardy amongst found solace in the embryonic student movement that has revitalized campuses across the country. Even before it can assume some form and substance, it has been undermined by the most moronic of behavior by the PU
From the emergency times:
Islamabad, Wednesday: Around 200 protestors, all exuberant and passionate, carried posters, wore black ribbons and waved the black flags as a sign of utter disappointment and despair in their Government’s policies. The protestors, mostly students from various universities of the capital chanted anti-Musharraf slogans. They demanded a free judicial system, lifting of curbs on media and a democratically elected head of the state. A minor of 5 carried a poster on his tender shoulders saying ‘ GO , UNCLE MUSHARRAF GO! ‘ which showed that even the younger lot of pakistans population is starting to speak up against the tyrannical rule of Musharraf and his dictator-like mindset. More student protests are planned at various universities of Islamabad, and a unified massive student movement will be launched very soon with-in the capital.
There are reports that even 3 of Imran Khan’s sisters, along with other women workers of PTI have been arrested this morning.
There was a big protest against IJT at Punjab university yesterday with 2-3 thousand students participating. More protests were planned for today, but haven’t received any updates on that so far.
There are two planned protests in Islamabad today, one being a media protest which is supposed to be taking place about this time and the other being a student protest a bit later in the day.
On wednesday, there was a protest near Ab Para. I have heard that it was well attended, but haven’t received any info on the estimated number of participants or any other details about how it went.
Ayaz Amir tells it like it is in today’s Dawn…
“But even in evil there can be some good. If May 12 exposed the true face of the MQM, Nov 14 has revealed the ugly face of the Jamiat and the Jamaat. Qazi Hussein Ahmed