‘Band karo yeh tamashay’

Around 300 people gathered at the Karachi Arts Council on Thursday to raise their voice against the brutal lynching.

KARACHI: For the young people who are sick of sitting on the sidelines and seeing their country drown in despair, the lynching of the Sialkot brothers acted as a wake-up call.

Around 300 people joined hands at the Karachi Arts Council on Thursday to raise their voice against the brutal lynching. The demonstration was organised by students who got together to express their outrage against the public flogging.

Ateeb Khan, currently a student at the McGill University, told The Express Tribune that he was appalled when he saw the video of the two brothers being beaten to death. As these acts have started becoming more and more common, Khan believed that it was time for the youth of Pakistan to become involved in social issues and take a stand as an integral part of the society.

“We are here to reinforce the principles [on the basis of which] this country was founded,” said Subul Ahsan, a second-year student at the London School of Economics.

Carola Preche, an Austrian student who is studying in London and is currently visiting friends in Karachi, said that she was “pleasantly surprised to find the youth of Pakistan so politically conscious and active.”

Amid slogans of “Band karo yeh tamashay” and “Jawab do, jawab do, khoon ka hisaab do”, television personality Bushra Ansari, who also participated in the demonstration, said that the process of imparting justice needs to be accelerated.

The youth of this country is leaving because they have nothing to stay back for, said Ansari, who blamed the government for the plight of its people.

Lawyer and television show host Ayesha Tammy Haq said that the police and the existing laws need to be improved. She added, however, that the people first need to improve their own behaviour, before they point fingers at the system.

A defensive Shehla Raza, speaker of the Sindh Assembly, maintained that the government was doing its job and catching the culprits. She added that the courts are actually the ones who are responsible for handing out the punishments.

“Resignations of government officials are not the solution to the problem,” she said while blaming Punjab chief minister Shahbaz Sharif for the Sialkot incident.

This riled up the crowd, after which Mohsin Sayyed stood up to calm them down.

“We are not here to do politics, we are only talking to the chief justice” said Sayyed, adding that their protest was aimed at making their voices heard in a peaceful and effective manner.

The protesters later regrouped outside the Karachi Press Club, carrying banners with “Please wake up CJ”, “An unjust society is worse than a jungle”, “Make Pakistan safe for our children” and “Justice requires less talk and more action” stamped across.

“The youth will no longer sit at home. We’re now going to come out on the streets and do whatever it takes to bring justice back to this country,” said Faraz Butt.

People do not trust the government, said Maliha Rao, Production Manager at a multinational ad agency who added that they are unable to make up their minds as to who is truly responsible as there are so many controversies attached to the story.

“All of us are to blame. We need to unite to show that humanity is above all. Aggression and ignorance will not achieve anything,” she said.

Violence is not the answer, said Ayesha Omar. “Otherwise, there will be no difference between us and those we are protesting against,” she added.

“An eye for an eye will make the whole world go blind,” Ali Abbas quoted Gandhi, while Sarosh said that the civil society can only protest in a peaceful manner and wait for the law to listen to us.

However, there were some who thought differently.  Sumbul Shah said that the perpetrators should be punished brutally and painfully.

WITH ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY Anum Lakhani

This article has been revised to reflect the following corrections:

Corrections: August 27, 2010

The story incorrectly cited the presence of Zehrah Nigah at the protest. That point has been removed.

Maliha Rao, Production Manager at a multinational ad agency was incorrectly cited as MNC product manager.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 27^th, 2010.