LAHORE, Feb 16: Punjab Governor Khalid Maqbool inaugurated on Monday the Horse and Cattle Show in the absence of President Gen Pervez Musharraf, who failed to show up at the venue for security concerns.

The president was scheduled to open the show at 10am at the Fortress Stadium, but whispers about his decision to drop the show from his schedule started around 9:15am. Most of the people and reporters were earlier hoping that the president would be airlifted to the venue.

However, rumours started dying down when Punjab Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi arrived at 9:45am, followed by the arrival of Governor Khalid Maqbool, which allowed inaugural festivities to begin.

The expected arrival of the president disturbed the citizens on two accounts. First police had picketed most of the city roads for better part of night and morning, making commuters go through an ordeal.

Second the invitees to the inaugural show were kept limited to the top provincial bureaucracy and politicians, and a select group of people. The guests were lesser in number than that of the performers, which included over 6,000 schoolchildren.

Around 3,000 of them were assigned a gigantic image book task at the other end of the stadium in which they were carrying over 48,000 pieces of wood painted slogans and pictures of the president, prime minister and the chief minister. They kept changing pattern of pictures and amused the otherwise dull public affair.

Over 1,300 children participated in unity show and more than 1,700 in spring show that followed formal opening. Military band and cattle show were the other treats for the public.