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Students' rare show against emergency
LAHORE, Nov 06, 2007: About 400 students staged a rally at Lahore University of
Management Sciences on Monday afternoon reflecting rising anti-government
sentiment at Pakistan's leading varsity, following the declaration of emergency
rule on Saturday and the detention of three of the LUMS professors on Sunday
night.
Student leaders had earlier circulated e-mails calling for a
"black day" and urging members of the LUMS student body to attend classes
wearing black clothing.
The rally, first of its kind on LUMS campus,
follows the arrests of Prof Dr Cheema, Head of the Economics Department, Prof Dr
Parvez Hasan, a member of the LUMS Management Committee, Mr Bilal Minto (adjunct
faculty in the Department of Law & Policy) and Mr Aasim Sajjad (Social
Sciences) on Sunday night for participating in an anti-government meeting held
at the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) office where police conducted
a massive raid arresting 70 civil society activists.
A flurry of e-mails
sent on the internal LUMS e-mail system reflected the student body's disbelief
at current events. One e-mail read: "I believe that most of us consider their
choice of peaceful resistance to be a mark of honour and a positive sign of
patriotism, not a criminal act", while another said: "On behalf of the students
of LUMS, we strongly condemn the illegal and unjust arrest of our esteemed
faculty members, and all other victims of similar oppression all over our
country. As the night grows darker over your prison cells, we want to tell you
that the students of LUMS, in fact the whole LUMS family, stand one with
you."
Earlier in the day, up to 35 students from LUMS had left classes to
attend the protest rally, which took place at the Lahore High Court in the
morning. They all returned to campus unscathed.
Before students went for
an on-campus demonstration, they were addressed by Justice Khwaja Muhammed
Sharif of the Lahore High Court, who refused oath under the PCO, as well as
prominent commentator and Prof Rasul Baksh Raees and Prof Osama Siddique at the
cafeteria. The speakers denounced the government for imposing state of emergency
in the country.
A student leader said: "Students and labour
movements have been part of all great movements and revolutions and it's
important we take a stand now.
"This is the first ever rally of this kind
to be held at LUMS, which has traditionally been apolitical. We want to send out
a message to Gen Musharraf that this injustice will not be
tolerated."
Later, the LUMS administration officially joined in the
condemnation by issuing a statement expressing their "extreme outrage" at the
arrests and "complete solidarity" with their colleagues for "exercising their
right to peaceful assembly and freedom of expression".
The statement also
called for their immediate release along with all other civil society
activists.
PU STUDENTS: Punjab University Law College students on
Monday staged a protest demonstration against imposition of state of emergency
in the country.
Students wore black armbands and hoisted black flags and
banners chanting protesting slogans at the university main gate and different
departments.
They demanded martial law be removed, democracy revived and
Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry reinstated.
Jamiat
Talba Islam Nazim Muhammad Ayub said attack on the judiciary was highly
condemnable and students would never accept "unconstitutional action by an
unconstitutional president". - Dawn
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| Education News | | Updated: 08 Feb, 2012 |
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