LAHORE, Jan 1: Hundreds of people assembled at the Liberty roundabout for a candlelit vigil on Tuesday evening in the biggest outpouring of grief-stricken Lahorites following the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto.

The vigil, called by the Human Rights Commission for Pakistan (HRCP), saw 700 to 800 people from various walks of life congregating at the scenic roundabout in Gulberg at 5:30pm and later renaming it as Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Chowk.

Candles were lit and distributed while four large posters of the assassinated PPP chairperson were draped over the building at the centre of the roundabout. Wreaths of roses were laid at the foot of one poster, as large crowds thronged to hear speakers narrating the recollections of the woman elected prime minister of Pakistan twice.

HRCP Chairperson Asma Jehangir was in no mood for pulling any punches and summed up the prevalent mood. “Everybody believes the government is complicit. That’s why we are calling for an international inquiry,” she said adding, “Anyone who is a threat to the establishment will now be taken care of.”

Rubina Saigol of the Women’s Action Forum added tearfully: “I cannot get over this tragedy. It’s a huge loss for Pakistan — and no one can replace her. It’s because of Musharraf that all of this is happening. He has to go now — nothing can begin to be put right until he goes.”

A clearly incensed crowd chanted anti-regime slogans — “Zalimo jawab do, khoon ka hisab do”, “Go Musharraf go” and “Hum badla lenge Bibi ka”.

PPP workers also chanted party slogans, including “Kadam barhao Bilawal Bhutto, hum tumhare saath hain”.

In addition to the usual coterie of activists, NGO workers and high-profile personalities who turned up at the protests erupted after Nov 3 emergency proclamation, a number of ordinary citizens from various backgrounds, including shopkeepers of the nearby Liberty Market, made their way to the roundabout to show their solidarity with the former prime minister.

The crowd also began a march around the Chowk and lined its perimeter, directing their slogans at the traffic passing by.

Later, Lahore High Court Bar Association President Ahsan Boon asked the protesters if they agreed that the roundabout should be renamed “Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Chowk”, to which they granted their emphatic approval. Dr Naveed Jan later read from his revolutionary poem “Main Baghi Hoon”.

In the presence of around 50 or so policemen in riot gear, the protest began to disperse some three hours after it began - in a sign that five days on after the Liaquat Bagh bloodbath, tension still running high in the provincial metropolis.