The long march which started at Karachi and Quetta on June 9, 2008 is near Islamabad now. It is scheduled to reach Islamabad on June 13.
The map on the left, from Dawn, shows the Islamabad Police’s plan to “manage” the march. It highlights the roads that the lawyers and other people living in Islamabad can and cannot use.
In a positive development, the lawyers have agreed to a detailed agreement with the government to keep the march peaceful. We certainly hope it is so.
Details from Dawn:
The government and representatives of the legal community signed a 20-point agreement on Thursday to maintain law and order in the federal capital where lawyers’ long march and protest programme will culminate on Friday. The organisers of the protest march have been told that they will be responsible for any disturbance in the city on the occasion. “The agreement has been signed with the consent of coalition partners and representatives of lawyers’ community,†Information Minister Sherry Rehman said at a press briefing on Thursday.
The agreement has been signed by Islamabad’s Deputy Commissioner Amir Ali and Rawalpindi Bar Association President Sardar Attaullah and Islamabad Bar Association (IBA) Secretary General Riasat Ali Azad. The community assured the government that the march would not enter the Constitution Avenue which has been declared ‘red zone’ and will be cordoned off during the protest programme. “Due to safety of diplomatic enclave and other important buildings, including the Parliament House, the area has been declared red zone and no one will be allowed to enter into it,†the minister said.
“But in case of any violation of the agreement and law and order situation, the responsibility will devolve on the organisers,†she said. The minister said PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari would provide food to the lawyers while the local administration would provide water and make arrangements for toilets. She said that the route and final destination of the protesters had been decided. The government, she said, had accepted the demands of lawyers and would facilitate them in setting up dais at the agreed venue at the parade ground, the area close to the Parliament House.
Giving details about the agreed route of the long march in Islamabad, she said the participants would enter the federal capital between 11am and 2pm on Friday from Faizabad and after going through the Zero Point, Kashmir Highway, Abpara Chowk, Suhrawardy Road and Embassy Road they would reach the parade ground. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani presided over a meeting of a committee formed to finalise security arrangements for the long march and expressed satisfaction over the agreement signed by the two sides.The meeting was attended by Prime Minister’s Adviser on Interior Rehman Malik, Ms Sherry Rehman, Labour Minister Khurshid Shah, Law Minister Farooq Naek and PML-N leaders Ishaq Dar, Ahsan Iqbal and Khawaja Asif.
The information minister said the lawyers’ representatives had assured the government that they would remain peaceful. The minister said there was no possibility of any PPP leader, including the prime minister, taking part in the lawyers’ programme. Security departments sealed the Constitution Avenue on Thursday night with large containers on all entry points, but some lawyers who had come from Sialkot to take part in the march, managed to enter the red zone. However, they were persuaded by security officials to leave the area.
Paramilitary force and police from Punjab have reached Islamabad to assist the local police in maintaining law and order. About 16 close-circuit cameras have been installed at different places near the venue of the protest meeting with control rooms at the district administration office and the interior ministry.Security departments have also installed more than a dozen security gates to stop suspects from joining the gathering. Dozens of police pickets have been set up on different roads in the city where vehicles are being searched. Armed personnel carriers equipped with anti-riot equipments, including tear-gas shells and rubber bullets have been placed to cope with any breakdown in security.
According to Daily News of June 13, 2008:
The lawyers’ long march caravans comprising political workers, civil society and members of different organisations, left Lahore for Islamabad on Thursday night amidst loud anti-Musharraf and anti-Zardari sloganeering. They vowed to restore the sacked judges of the Supreme Court by laying a siege to the Parliament House and the presidency. The march, which began from Karachi on Monday, gradually swelled in size and strength after passing through different cities including Sukkur, Multan, Bahawalpur, Sahiwal and Lahore.It will culminate in a huge rally in Rawalpindi and a long sit-in outside the Parliament House Islamabad on Friday to press for the restoration of the deposed judges of the superior courts to the pre-November 3, 2007 position, and independence of the judiciary as enshrined in the 1973 Constitution.
I think it is quite amazing how long this movement has lasted. Also, this is not a movement of the politicians but of the people. In fact, it has become so important that all politicians are now having to say they side with it. That is really special about this.
The silliness of the argument that because X (politicians) are corrupt and incompetent therefore Y (Generals) also have teh right to be corrupt and incompetent, is itself a corrupt and incompetent argument.
Maybe you guys should listen more carefully before you speak… this movement has been for democracy and justice for all… against corrupt military and now also against incompetent politicians. The message is not that you have to be perfect, but it is that even if you have made mistakes in the past you cannot make them in the future.
This is why the movement is now willing to tolerate Nawaz Sharif as long as he sides with the right cause (even for wrong reasons). Tomorrow if he sells out like Musharraf has and Zardari has then the people will be against him too. Same with Ch. Iftikhar… this is NOT his movement. This is movement for justice. He has also made mistakes in the past, but what teh movement is saying is that no one will be allowed to do that in the future.
That is what democracy is about. But I guess it will take some people time to “get it.” Others, the ISI types, are here just for propaganda purposes so they are best ignored.
Ahmed R Shahid,
I don’t know which Pakistan have you been living in where politician’s policies have been people centric but the Pakistan I know of has been destroyed by sub-par and corrupt political leadership that has given Pakistani people nothing but empty promises and gotten everything in return.
For every “corrupt” General who in your words got plots at bargain prices, I can show you 10 two bit student leaders who have gotten rich, 20 elected officials who didn’t have two paisas to rub together but became filthy rich after one stint at “public service” and 30 maulvis who have sucked their followers dry in the name of religion . Send some love their way as well.
I’ll spare you the argument over the size of the military, our defense budget and pensions for the soldiers, I have a feeling that it would be a waste of time.
There is a certain elite that has benefitted the most from the loot-maar by the military over the last 60 years, rendering everyone else poor. This same elite has now become the biggest defender of the military and their only goal is to spread hatred against the politicians, whose policies have been less elite and military centric and more people centric. But since the military and the elite are the biggest loosers in any return to democracy, they start disseminating propaganda against the politicians.
Yo Ahmed R. Shahid
You seem to be fixated on Anti-Army sentiment. Your ignorance is evident and your anger counter productive. Don’t try to shoot the messenger (Army) if you do not like the message (politics and politicians in Pakistan).