May 12, 2007	Saturday	Rabi-us-Sani 24, 1428

ISLAMABAD, May 11: All is set for President Pervez Musharraf’s first public rally in the federal capital on Saturday afternoon which the ruling Pakistan Muslim League has promised would display “people’s power” to his opponents.

About 200,000 people are being brought from all over Punjab on 17,000 vehicles impounded by the police, to the venue of the rally in front of the Parliament House which will be cordoned off to all traffic on the occasion.

Over 10,000 extra policemen have already arrived in the city from Punjab to help the local force in the massive security arrangements at the venue and in the city, security sources said.

Close Circuit Television Cameras (CCTV) have been installed at “vital locations”, the sources added.

Influx of the promised human mass, the glut of thousands of buses and the traffic restrictions can disrupt the normal life of the city residents.

They feared that the glut would prevent their children from reaching schools and colleges where annual exams are underway. However, only the Allama Iqbal Open University and the Federal Board of Secondary Education are known to have postponed their exams scheduled for Saturday.

“When would our leaders and parties realise the havoc their political shows inflict on the nation?” fumed a citizen as he watched government functionaries giving final touches to the preparations for the rally.

In Karachi, the authorities have ordered schools to be closed on Saturday to save children from being caught in the volatile situation created by the counter rallies announced for the day by the lawyers community in support of the suspended Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry and the government ally Muttahida Qaumi Movement in support of President Musharraf.

Islamabad’s rally also is meant to rival the opposition parties’ efforts to make political capital out of the lawyers’ activism.