LAHORE, Jan 8: The ARD called off its Sunday rally in the city on the Balochistan situation in ‘protest’ against the local government invoking for three days a law which prohibits assembly of five or more people and deploying police force at a number of places to ensure that nobody violated the ban.
Now the rally will be held on Jan 16.
The rally was scheduled to begin from the Lahore Press Club and end at the Assembly Secretariat, less than a kilometre away.
“The leaders may afford to go to jails, not the workers as they won’t be able to apply even for bail due to Eid holidays,” said ARD chairman Makhdoom Amin Fahim while talking to reporters at the ARD secretariat where policemen were present in large numbers.
Some other ARD leaders, including Jehangir Badr, Nafees Siddiqui, Zaeem Qadri, Abdul Qadeer Khamosh, Munir Husain Gilani, Manzoor Ali Gilani, Saifullah Saif, Senator Amanullah Kanrani, Rana Nazrur Rehman, Pir Naubahar Shah and Joseph Francis were also present.
Indication that the ARD will not hold the rally came ‘before’ the alliance’s brief formal meeting. Mr Fahim subsequently chaired a meeting of those present at the ARD secretariat and soon left for Dubai, saying he had been called by Ms Benazir Bhutto, possibly for participation in a meeting with PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif.
The ARD chief left it to the alliance leaders to take a decision about the rally and inform the media.
PML-N leaders Zulfikar Khosa and Pervaiz Malik dropped in after Mr Fahim had already left. PPP’s Munir Ahmad Khan and Tahir Khaleeq turned up even later.
Then joined in another PML-N group comprising Saad Rafiq, Sardar Ayyaz Sadiq, Mian Marghoob and Mian Mujtaba Shujaa. Much later came in secretary-general Iqbal Zafar Jhagra and information secretary Syed Zafar Ali Shah.
The ‘walk-in’ session ended soon, with Mr Jhagra setting the date for the next rally.
It is said that Zafar Ali Shah vehemently opposed the postponement, saying a law through which the rally had been stopped on Sunday could be invoked again on Jan 16, putting the alliance in a difficult situation.
It may be pointed out that the alliance had not mobilized the people for the rally and the government, in fact, gave them a good face-saver by invoking Section 144 of the CrPC.
About a dozen ‘leaders and workers’ raised slogans against President Gen Pervez Musharraf and supporters of the United States, while TV cameras were shooting.
Mr Fahim in his pre-session press talk criticized the government for launching an operation in Balochistan. He said the rally had been planned to express solidarity with the people of Balochistan and to seek an end to the operation.
It was regrettable that the government had not learnt a lesson from the 1971 tragedy and was pursuing the same policies which had led to the dismemberment of the country, he added.
Asked to comment on the attacks on various national installations, the ARD chief said the situation would normalize through talks.
Senator Kanrani said Balochistan’s demand that it should be given the control of its natural resources was constitutional. He pointed out that the demand was being made for the past several years, but no deadline had been set for the government to accept it.
Asked about the role of the Balochistan government in whatever was happening in the province, Mr Kanrani said all decisions were being made by the army, and corps commanders had decided at a meeting a few days ago that the operation would continue.
Another Baloch leader, Mir Hasil Bizenjo, warned that any damage to Balochistan would mean damage to the country. He called for steps to set the situation right as early as possible.
LAHORE, Jan 8: The ARD called off its Sunday rally in the city on the Balochistan situation in ‘protest’ against the local government invoking for three days a law which prohibits assembly of five or more people and deploying police force at a number of places to ensure that nobody violated the ban.
