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| January 30, 2006 | Monday | Zilhaj 29, 1426 |
Marathon declared annual event
LAHORE, Jan 29: The third Lahore Marathon would be held here on Jan 14 next year, Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi said on Sunday. Speaking at the concluding ceremony of the second Lahore Marathon, he said the race would be an annual event.
Talking to reporters later, the chief minister said Lahorites by their large participation in the event had rejected the elements opposed to it.
He said the people had given a deaf ear to the boycott call and took part in the marathon on their free will.
The opponents, he said, had the democratic right to have their own opinion on the issue but they could not be allowed to impose it on others.
“Those who do not want to see it (marathon) should stay back at their homes.”
He warned to take everyone to task who would create law and order situation.
Meanwhile, fears of disruption by religious parties’ activists dampened the enthusiasm in the morning while over-cautious police were also responsible for keeping many participants and jubilant spectators away from the venue, the Punjab Stadium.
City police chief Amir Zulfikar admitted that people faced troubles owing to tight security. “Even my own family was barred from reaching the venue.”
Chief secretary Salman Siddique, who also took part in 5-km family fun race, said 12,000 policemen had been deployed to ward off any threat to the runners.
Perhaps owing to the fear of an clash, the participation of women athletes was quite low as not more than 130 attended all the three categories.
In the 10-km race, most of the women participants belonged to a private chain of colleges who parted with other runners after reaching the canal bank and did not turn up to the finishing line.
Race director Ian Ladbrooke started the run before the chief minister, who had been encircled by newsmen for a talk, could give a formal nod to it.
Shazia Hidayat, who stood 7th in the meet, belonged to Wapda but was “wrongfully” declared as from the Punjab Group of Colleges.
Led by Peramveer, a 10-member Indian team, including two women — Madhu and Puja — had also come to take part in the marathon.
They said they were feeling very comfortable being in Lahore, wishing that Pakistanis should also participate in the Feb 12 marathon being held in New Delhi.
Ruling PML president Chaudhry Shujaat Husain opened the 5-km race at the Liberty Chowk, Main Boulevard, Gulberg. Governor Khalid Maqbool, chief secretary Salman Siddique, district nazim Mian Amir Mahmood, MPAs Begum Rehana Jamil and Saba Sadiq, and Majida Zaidi also participated in it.
Some elderly women were also seen taking part in it while carrying biscuits and juices for their children.
The event was the most disorganized one as its result could not be compiled.
Three separate events were organized for special persons. Twenty-one disabled people riding on wheelchairs contested in the 3-km paralympic. Twenty blind took part in a similar meet while another was held for those crippled by one leg.
A group of 50 disabled people from Sindh could not take part in the contest for, as they alleged, the police kept them rolling from place to another, not guiding and allowing them to reach the venue.
Their leader, Mobeen Ahmad, also alleged that the police baton-charged them on protest.
They chanted slogans against the police and also the chief minister who, they said, did not hear them despite many requests and threatened to hold a press conference at the Lahore Press Club to bring their ordeal into the notice of the public.
They were calmed down by law minister Raja Muhammad Basharat by promising them a separate bout. It was later held in the Punjab Stadium just before the closing ceremony.
Students of Government Model High School, Model Town, and other state-run institutions were brought to the stadium to improve crow position there.
People continued to transgress the tartan track despite repeated requests from the dais to keep it clear for the runners.
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