ISLAMABAD (March 18, 2011)
According to the press release issued by Central Media Cell of PTI, of call of Chairman PTI Imran Khan Protest rallies and demonstration were held throughout the country and AJK against the unjust release of CIA agent Raymond Davis in connivance with the federal and Punjab government.
The main protest rally was addressed by Imran Khan at Appara Chowk in Islamabad which was attended by thousands of charged people raising slogans against the government.
Whereas Karachi protest rally was led by Secretary General Dr Arif Alvi, in Lahore Mian Mehmood Rasheed led the demonstration while provisional presidents of KPK Asad Qaiser and Qasim Khan Soori of Balochistan led the relies in Peshawar and Quetta respectively.
Besides these stations, 47 districts including Muzaffarabad, Mirpur, Multan, Bahawalpur, Sargoda, D.G Khan, Layyah, Gujrat, Sukkur, Hyderabad, Pashin, Nasirabad, Jaffarabad, Sahiwal, Gujranwala and Sialkot, rallies were held to protest the release of Raymond Davis.
Tahir Jamil
Central Press Secretary
0300 950 7073
Protests against Davis release continue
The News
ISLAMABAD: Thousands of people took to the streets across the country on Friday to protest the release of Raymond Davis, a CIA contractor who had been held for murder, and a US drone strike that killed over 40 people.
Security was tight and the US embassy in Islamabad and its consulates in Karachi, Lahore and Peshawar were closed in anticipation of public anger. A big protest rally in Islamabad called for sending President Asif Ali Zardari and PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif to the gallows for conspiring the release of CIA contractor Raymond Davis.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan and Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) local amir former MNA Mian Muhammad Aslam spoke to the emotionally-charged gathering, mostly comprising of PTI and JI activists and workers.
The rally started from Lal Masjid and concluded at Aabpara Intersection, where Imran Khan and Mian Aslam delivered fiery speeches. Imran called on the people not to pay additional taxes and extra power charges unless the rulers declared their assets and brought back their wealth to Pakistan. He vowed to give a call to all Pakistanis: doctors, lawyers, labourers, farmers and youth for a civil disobedience movement soon.
The participants, mostly youth on reaching the intersection, had no idea whether to proceed towards the parliament house or the Diplomatic Enclave. They twice managed to break the police cordon and remove barricades and barbed wire placed on the road leading to the Red Zone, which resulted in a brief clash between youth and police.
“We shall continue to be treated like goats and sheep, if we do not come on roads for our rights. Raymond Davis killed two youths, where US drone attack on Thursday claimed over 40 innocent lives,” said Imran, clad in black shalwar kameez, as a youth, carrying a JI flag and wearing a police helmet, which he had snatched from policeman during the clash, approached him atop a truck.
The PTI chairman said those having wealth and assets abroad had no right to represent the masses in parliament. He accused President Zardari, the Sharif brothers and agencies of conspiring the release of Raymond Davis. “The two Sharif brothers must tell the nation, is not it so that they become kings to make factories and live in Raiwind Palace. Curse on them when they say that they have nothing to do with Raymond Davis release and that this has been done by the federal government and agencies,” PTI chief contended. About Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani’s statement against the drone attack, he called upon the army chief to stand his ground firmly.
The Jamaat-e-Islami, JUI-F, Pakistan Awami League, Sunni Tehrik and other religious groups and former ISI chief Lt Gen (R) Hamid Gul joined hands to protest against the release of Raymond Davis.
General Hamid Gul, JI naib amir Dr Muhammad Kamal, Awami Muslim League President Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, Senator Abdul Ghafoor Haideri and Azam Swati of JUI-F, Maulana Ashraf Ali and other leaders led a big protest demonstration from Idara-e-Taleemul Quran in Raja Bazaar after Friday prayers.
In Lahore, activists of the PTI, Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q), JI, Jamatud Dawa, Islami Jamiat Talaba and the Insaaf Students Federation staged a combined protest rally against sending Raymond Davis to US without fulfilling the requirements of the law of the land, and vowed to continue protest till the end of the government.
Salvaging pride
Express Tribune
Threatening the present government with a civil disobedience movement, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf Chief Imran Khan asked the government to voluntarily quit, he was speaking at Aabpara Chowk to a rally of hundreds of people.
“They must go or people in great numbers will take to street to topple their government,” said Khan. He added that by freeing Davis, the political leaders had shown weakness. It had given a wrong message to the world.
“We showed the Americans that they could get anything with money. They were assured that US citizens could get away with even murder in Pakistan,” said the PTI chief.
Khan was also critical of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz government in Punjab. “Sharif brothers have always demonstrated cowardice. They always leave the country in times of crisis,” said Imran.
The participants of the rally held at Aabpara Chowk after the Friday prayers, mostly youth, were carrying banners with slogans against United States written on them. The youth criticised the federal as well as the Punjab goverments. The main Aabpara road, Khayaban-e-Suharwardy, was closed where traffic remained suspended till late in the evening.
Local leader of Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), Mian Muhammad Aslam also criticised the intelligence agencies and the federal government for aiding the release of Davis.
“The Pakistan Peoples Party led federal governmental and intelligence agencies helped engineer Davis’s release through court,” said Aslam. He said Davis should have been hanged for killing Pakistani citizens in broad daylight. The protesters dispersed peacefully but not before giving threats of returning with greater numbers if the government does not leave.
Dozens of members of civil society also held a separate rally at D-Chowk in front of the Parliament House to protest the release of the alleged US spy. They were stopped by the police from proceeding towards the presidency and the Supreme Court.
They chanted slogans against the government, condemning it for allowing the killer of two Pakistanis to get off scot free. These protesters dispersed after staying on the Parade Avenue for over two hours.
Earlier before the Friday prayers, the PTI activists claimed their offices were raided in Rawalpindi by the police who confiscated flags and banners of their party. They said the administration wanted to stop PTI from taking out rallies in the twin cities. They claimed some of their activists were arrested but the police denied arresting any of the protesters.
Davis’s release sparks protests in twin cities
Daily Times
ISLAMABAD/RAWALPINDI:Thousands of people Friday rallied in twin cities protesting the abrupt release of CIA contractor Raymond Davis.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) held a demonstration at Aabpara Square that was headed by PTI Chairman Imran Khan. More than 2000 activists of PTI, Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), Islami Jamiat Talaba (IJT) and Insaf Students Federation (ISF) took part in the rally. The protestors moved towards the US Embassy to record their protest there but the police held them back at Khayaban-e-Suhrawardy.
Imran Khan addressed the gathering and termed this patch-up a bargaining over the conscience of 18 million Pakistanis. Khan claimed that the Punjab government had played a decisive role in this dramatic release of Davis. Pakistan has world’s best Army and a nuclear power but all these are of no use as country’s sovereignty is at stake, regretted Khan.
He further claimed that many more foreign operatives were still roaming around in the country and there was no check on them. Nawaz Sharif suddenly got ill and Shahbaz Sharif too left the country, putting the whole nation in the doldrums, he contended. “Raymond Davis shot dead two citizens but every day the drone attacks are claiming lives of innocent Pakistanis. The death toll due to drone strikes has mounted to 32,000,” raged Khan. He urged the masses to come out of their homes now or otherwise it would be too late.
The protestors chanted slogans against Punjab government and Sharif brothers. They claimed it all had happened with the connivance of the provincial government. They pleaded the Supreme Court to haul up those who mocked the entire nation. PTI Islamabad Chapter President Mr. Zaid Abbassi proclaimed that Davis had not only murdered two Pakistanis rather it was a crime against the entire nation. He said that by not registering a case against the killer under Anti-Terrorism Act, the rulers had exposed their loyalty to the US. Dr. Shireen Mazari, while addressing the rally, said the Raymond Davis saga was an absolute mockery with Pakistani nation.
Meanwhile the political and religious parties in Rawalpindi, jumping on the bandwagon, also held demonstrations on Friday against Davis’s release and blamed the rulers for bowing to American pressure.
They said the deal had brought embarrassment to the country and held the federal and provincial governments responsible for providing safe passage to the murderer. They claimed that the release was result of a secret deal between the two countries. The speakers warned these steps would further escalate the menace of extremism in the country.
They claimed the government had not got approval from the cabinet, parliament, or the public. They blamed the government and the two major political parties that they were “dancing to the American tune.
The speakers said that the government was taking dictations from their foreign patrons at the cost of innocent people’s lives, adding that their country-fellows were being killing in drone strikes. They claimed the victims’ families were pressurised by the government into pardoning Davis and termed this patch-up a violation of law.
They requested the Chief Justice of Pakistan to invalidate the decision and direct the authorities to initiate proceedings against “those who brought about Davis’ release”.
They said that the whole nation was ashamed over this coward act by the so-called rulers who were just there to serve the interests of their foreign masters. They declared that the government’s days had been marked and the masses would no further tolerate this puppet show. The protestors carried placards and banners inscribed with anti-American and government slogans and marched on the Murree Road.
The rallies were brought out from Jamia Masjid and culminated at Fawara Chowk. Hundreds of activists of various political parties participated in the protests. Another protest rally blocked IJ Principal Road for almost three hours.
On the flip side, the protests resulted in traffic jams that added to the miseries of the commuters and motorists. The traffic flow at Murree and IJP Roads was badly disturbed and the traffic was diverted to link roads.
PTI to hold protest today against US killer’s release
The Nation
LAHORE - Pakistan Tehreeke Insaaf Lahore chapter will take out a protest rally in City on Friday (today) to condemn the federal and Punjab governments for releasing US national Raymond Davis.
It will start from Masjid-e-Shuhada (Reagal Chowk) after Friday prayer and culminate in front of the Governor House on The Mall.
Meanwhile, Pakistan Tehreeke Insaaf Chairman Imran Khan has condemned drone attack in Datta Khail area of North Waziristan and termed it an attack on country’s sovereignty. He also grilled the Pakistan People’s Party and the Pakistan Muslim League-N for their criminal silence over drone attacks.
"Rulers had humiliated the country", says Farman
Express Tribune
PESHAWAR: Condemning the release of Davis, PTI provincial secretary Farman claimed that the slain’s family members “had been compelled to pardon the killer by accepting blood money (Diyat).” He said that the rulers had humiliated the country by releasing Davis and alleged that the American “was not only involved in the assassination of two Pakistanis but also in other subversive activities.”
Students of Kohat University also staged a protest in Kohat. FATA Students Federation expressed their anger over Davis’ release.Police resorted to baton-charging and tear gassing protestors at University of Peshawar campus, arresting at-least eight students. However, they were freed later in the evening. The students had planned to march to Peshawar Press Club.
PTI rally in Hafizabad
The News
HAFIZABAD: Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf activists took out a rally against the release of Raymond Davis here on Thursday.
The rally was taken out from the General Bus Stand and culminated at Fawara Chowk. PTI leader Ch Amanullah Sindhu led the rally. The protesters were chanting slogans against President Asif Ali Zardari and the Punjab government. They demanded the rulers to resign.
PTI rally in Toba Tek Singh
The News
TOBA TEK SINGH:: The Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf will take out a rally against the release of Raymond Davis at Kamalia today (Friday). PTI tehsil convener Rai Ali Qasim and deputy convener Mehmood Ali will lead the rally.
Police raid PTI’s Rawalpindi office
Daily Times
RAWALPINDI: Police on Friday raided district office of Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf and seized party flags, banners, and flyers, said PTI spokesperson Sadaqat Abbasi. He claimed that, in a bid to stop the rallies against the release of Raymond Davis, police had raided party offices in 28 and harassed the workers. staff report
