How to protest: Citizen involvement spared Faisalabad any harm

City’s business community, religious leaders lead rallies; Karachi bounces back to business.

FAISALABAD:

Television cameras on Friday focused on the rampage across Pakistan. What they failed to highlight was that the third-largest city in the country witnessed protests without an incident.

Like the rest of the country, protesters in Faisalabad marched through the city, shouting slogans against the United States and the rabid filmmaker. Unlike the rest of the country, however, the protesters did not damage either public or private property.

The secret? Rallies were led by business leaders, along with religious leaders.

Business empathy

The main reason why rallies stayed peaceful was that the business community led the processions, along with religious leaders, said Muzzamil Sultan, President Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

In other cities, the business leaders were absent, and demonstrations were organised by radical elements, he said.

Many of the frustrated individuals then vandalised public and private property, he said, adding that no such incident was reported in the third largest city of the country.

Businessmen understand the challenges they face, especially in times of energy crisis and the worsening law and order situation, and will therefore never destroy the businesses of other, Sultan said.

If the business community and traders of other cities lead their rallies, the damages could have been avoided, he added.

Sadiq Dogar, Senior Superintend of Police Operations Faisalabad, said the administration met with the organisers of all rallies – traders, businessmen, political parties and religious groups – and defined routes for the processions.

More than two dozen protest rallies were organised by various groups across Faisalabad.

Back to business

Karachi, meanwhile, bounced back to business on Saturday.

The city’s industrial and trading centres resumed operations but leading wholesale and retail markets waited for customers on Saturday.

Representatives of industrial associations said that since no incident of arson took place in any industrial area on Friday, activities resumed quickly without any difficulty.

The worst-hit area was around the Chief Minister House, where five bank branches were partially or fully damaged.

The spokesperson for National Bank of Pakistan, one of the banks affected, said the management has already started repair work and the branch will resume operations from Monday.

An official of another affected branch said that most of the damage on Friday was done to the furniture, and that the banks can easily resume their operations in a few days.

Most of these branches are online so the financial losses of these banks would not be more than a few million rupees, he added.

With additional reporting by Farhan Zaheer in Karachi.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 23^rd, 2012.