A time to keep and A time to throw away

Events like Lahore Literary Festival, PTI sit-ins and tragedies like Model Town killings gripped the city this year.

In February 2014, Lahore Literary Festival grew from a two-day event featuring 60 delegates to a three-day event featuring over 100 local and foreign delegates.

LLF Advisory Committee member Ahmed Rashid says the goal of the festival was to transform Lahore into an intellectual hub - a city for cultural interaction.

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In the year 2014, several infrastructure developments projects were completed in Lahore. These included the Azadi Signal Free Junction and an overhead motorcyclists’ ring at Chungi Amarsidhu (Ferozpur Road).

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Pakistani youth on March 1 set the world record for waving the national flag at the National Hockey Stadium. As many as 56,263 participants broke the record set by a gathering in Argentina that had set the record with the participation of 49,850 people. Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif was the chief guest. Diplomats from 14 countries, members of the national and provincial assemblies, Minister for Sports Rana Mashhood Ahmad Khan, Sports Secretary Muhammad Khan Khichi and Sports Board Punjab Director General Usman Anwar were also present.

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One of the ugliest crimes in 2014 was the murder of a pregnant woman near Lahore High Court (LHC) premises on May 27 in the name of honour.

Farzana Parveen, 25, had married one Iqbal without the approval and consent of her family, who filed a kidnapping case against Iqbal. When she came to the LHC to record her statement, around a dozen men bludgeoned her with bricks. Iqbal alleged later that several policemen present on the scene had not tried to save his wife.

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At least 14 people were killed and hundreds were injured on June 17 in clashes between the police and Minhajul Quran activists over the removal of barriers in the vicinity of the MuQ Secretariat and Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) chief Tahirul Qadri’s residence in Model Town turned violent.

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Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan announced in May a series of protest demonstrations against alleged electoral rigging.

The party arranged public meetings in Islamabad, Sailkot, Fasialabad and Bahawalpur demanding that the government order a judicial probe into the rigging. Khan led an Azadi March to Islamabad on August 14 to achieve what he called a new Pakistan.

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On November 2, a suicide bombing at Wahga Border left 60 people dead.

Initially, there were reports that a gas cylinder had exploded at a restaurant where families had gathered after the flag-lowering ceremony at the border at around 6 pm. Later, it became apparent that civilians had been targeted in a terrorist attack.

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Pakistan Peoples Party’s (PPP’s) foundation day celebrations were touted to be a grand affair but chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari’s absence made the event lose its sheen.The party had announced that the event would be used to reclaim lost ground in the Punjab and Bilawal would use the occasion to placate disgruntled workers. Some PPP leaders had said that he had chosen not to attend the proceedings due to Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan’s rally in Islamabad. Others said he had been advised by co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari to go soft on the government.

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Street fights broke out between workers of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) in Faisalabad on December 8.

One PTI activist was killed and nearly two dozen people were injured as hundreds of PTI activists clashed with riot police armed with water cannon, teargas shells and clubs in various neighbourhoods surrounding Novelty Bridge.

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On December 3 police allegedly manhandled several blind people marching on The Mall to demand an increase in job quota for the disabled at government departments.

The protestors, including some highly qualified individuals, had been demonstrating in front of the Lahore Press Club since morning. The police were accused to have manhandled them when they tried to march towards the Chief Minister’s Secretariat on the Mall Road.

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