LAHORE, Nov 20: A small of group of Pakistanis staged a peaceful demonstration against the imposition of emergency, large-scale arrests, restrictions on judiciary and curbs on media in their country, according to news and images reaching here from the Russian capital via email.

The protesters gathered here in front of the Pakistani embassy on Tuesday carrying placards denouncing the suspension of basic human rights in Pakistan and calling for the release of people arrested since the proclamation of emergency rule on Nov 3.

They later handed over to the embassy staff a memorandum demanding return of democratic rule under an independent judiciary, lifting of emergency, release of all political prisoners and withdrawal of ban on private television channels.

A protester told Dawn by telephone from Moscow that after the plans of the rally were made public, he and some fellow Pakistanis who were dubbed as the ‘organisers of the demonstration’ received phone calls reminding them of the hazardous consequences of such an ‘adventure’.

He said he and his friends received calls from a gentleman who introduced himself as a staffer of the Pakistani diplomatic mission in Russia and advised them against holding the protest.

He said he would be extremely surprised if the caller was actually an embassy staffer since anti-emergency meetings much larger than they could ever hope to hold in Moscow had been staged in capital cities all over the world. “We told the caller that there was nothing illegal about our meet since we had taken prior permission from the local authorities for a demonstration by only 20 people,” the protester said.