Protest demo held against unprecedented state repression
By Saad Saud

ISLAMABAD—Hundreds of political workers, students, lawyers, workers and ordinary citizens held a protest demonstration and staged sit-in at Aabpara Chowk against the unprecedented state repression against the peaceful rally held on Saturday the 9th of February.
The protestors 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 protestors were highly charged and were holding banners condemning the Musharraf government’s hypocrisy. Speaking on the occasion, Aasim Sajjad of the People’s Rights Movement said that a government bombs its own people, cannot provide electricity, gas and atta, and is unwilling to allow an open political process has no right to stay in power.
He accused that Pakistani generals have become obsessed with protecting their own corporate interests and have completely sacrificed the interests of Pakistan’s people to protect their own. He said that a state in which the people have turned completely against its own military cannot survive and therefore it is imperative for the restoration of democracy. He also condemned the fact that a pro-Musharraf rally was taking place in front of the parliament which the police was facilitating whereas naked state repression is used against those who speak against dictatorship and for the rights of the people.
Speaking on the occasion, Jamil Abbasi of the Awami Jamhoori Ittehad said that the movement to remove Musharraf and the military from politics is now reaching the one-year mark and has braved all measure of state repression. He warned the government that no amount of repression would compel pro-democratic forces to back away from their principled stance, and only reflected the weakness of the regime and its complete lack of credibility.