ISLAMABAD, Feb 11: Hundreds of political workers, students, lawyers and ordinary citizens on Monday held a protest demonstration and staged sit-in at Aabpara Chowk against the use of brutal force on a peaceful rally on Saturday.

The protesters sat on the main Aabpara Road blocking traffic for about an hour after having marched through the market chanting slogans against military dictatorship, harsh economic conditions and American imperialism. The protesters were highly charged and holding banners inscribed with anti-Musharraf slogans.

Speaking on the occasion, Aasim Sajjad of the People’s Rights Movement said that a government that “bombs its own people”, cannot provide electricity, gas and atta, and was unwilling to allow an open political process had no right to stay in power.

He said that Pakistani generals had been obsessed with protecting their own corporate interests at the cost of the interests of Pakistanis.

He said that a state in which the people had turned against its own military could not survive and therefore it was imperative that the regime restored democracy.

He also condemned the fact that a pro-Musharraf rally in front of the parliament house had police protection whereas those who spoke against dictatorship and for the rights of the people were subjected to naked state repression.

Speaking on the occasion, Jamil Abbasi of Awami Jamhoori Ittehad said that struggle for the restoration of democracy and removal of Musharraf and the military from politics, completing one year, had braved all forms of state repression.

He warned the government that no amount of repression would compel pro-democratic forces to back off from their principled stand, and the repression only reflected the weakness of the regime and its complete lack of credibility.

He said that it was clear that Pakistan stood on the brink of collapse and the responsibility for this state of affairs lied totally with Musharraf and his military. He said that some quarters had been calling upon the new Chief of Army Staff to intervene but all pro-democracy forces believed that under no circumstances is any kind of military intervention acceptable and there must be a complete transfer of power to the 160 million people of Pakistan.

The protesters warned of civil disobedience if Pervez Musharraf government stayed in power and this movement would continue indefinitely. They called another protest and sit-in at Aabpara Chowk on Wednesday.