LAHORE, Jan 8: Braving heavy rain and chill, dozens of protesters mostly belonging to civil society groups turned up at Iqbal Park on Tuesday afternoon to condemned the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto and also demanded the restoration of pre-Nov 3 judiciary.

Beside civil society groups, the event united a broad spectrum of NGOs, students, lawyers and political activists, some from the city and some from other parts of the Punjab province.

Organisations such as Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), Committee for Democracy and Restoration of Law in Pakistan (CDRLP), Women’s Action Forum (WAF), Students Action Committee (SAC) and South Asia Partnership (SAP) and others were represented by their determined activists.

Umbrellas, woollies and ‘shivering figures’ were the order of the day as speakers took it in turns to take to make speeches nearby the iconic Minar-i-Pakistan built to commemorate the March 23, 1940, Lahore Resolution, which paved the way for the creation of Pakistan.

Large banners promoting an independent judiciary were erected up along walls, while a giant PPP flag fluttered in the breeze. In the backdrop, the normally picturesque Iqbal Park suffered from water logging in wet conditions that too proved a deterrent for some of those scheduled to attend the demonstration.

Khurram Khosa of the CDRLP summed up the scene: “We organised this event today to coincide with the date the elections were scheduled to be held on (before Benazir Bhutto’s assassination). Today, it’s not raining, but the heavens are crying.”