June 10, 2008	Tuesday	Jamadi-us-Sani 05, 1429

ISLAMABAD, June 9: The government on Monday decided to facilitate lawyers’ long march and take foolproof security measures for safety of the participants.

The decision was taken at a high-level meeting presided over by Adviser to the Prime Minister on Interior Rehman Malik. Interior Secretary Syed Kamal Shah, provincial home secretaries and inspectors general of police and chiefs of Rangers of Punjab and Sindh attended the meeting.

Mr Malik said the government believed in the right of peaceful protest and demonstration but, at the same time, law and order must be maintained. “The government will facilitate the peaceful protest of lawyers and will not create any hurdle,” the adviser added.The meeting reviewed security arrangements in view of terror threats and apprehensions that large gathering of lawyers could be a potential target of terrorists.

The adviser asked the Islamabad administration to work out comprehensive security plans to avert any untoward incident. He called for detailed traffic plans to avoid any inconvenience to the general public during the protest.

Meanwhile, the newly-elected Chief Minister of Punjab, Mian Shahbaz Sharif, has announced his government’s complete support for the lawyers’ march.

A senior official of the Islamabad administration who did not want to be named said that the lawyers would not be stopped from proceeding to the Parliament House, but their movement would be strictly monitored.

He said the security plan implemented for the PML-Q’s rally outside the Parliament House on May 12 last year would be followed.

The administration has allowed organisers of the long march to set up a stage at the D-Chowk in front of the Parliament House.

Heavy contingents of Rangers and Punjab police have been called to assist the local administration in maintaining law and order.