Ban protests on The Mall, say teachers, students and traders

People say govt should assign special zone for public protests or ban them from The Mall to avoid traffic congestion.

LAHORE: The government should set aside a special zone for public protests or at least ban them from The Mall so traffic on the major road is not constantly blocked, say people who live, work and study in the area.

Protesting lawyers blocked The Mall and Lower Mall Road for at least three hours starting in the late morning on Monday, causing long queues of traffic at school-closing time that stretched back to Bhaati Chowk. Police had barricaded the road from Istanbul Chowk to the Civil Secretariat.

The Mall is at the administrative heart of Lahore and as such is the customary site for the frequent protests in the city. But with these protests come myriad traffic and security problems that affect ordinary citizens as well as businesses.

“The customers aren’t coming here because they are afraid of being caught up in protests,” said Qazi Aftab, the general secretary of the Mall Road Traders Association. “Often the mob turns violent and torches private and public vehicles. This is a big reason why customers don’t come here. If these lawyers’ rallies are going to continue, they should take them to some place other than The Mall.”

Aftab demanded that the government reintroduce the ban on protests on The Mall that was in place in 1992.

The area around The Mall and Lower Mall is home to Government College University (GCU), National College of Arts, Islamia College Civil Lines, MAO College, University of Education, Central Model School, Muslim Model School and Saleem Model School. Teachers and students at these schools were stuck in heavy traffic jams.

Mustafa Ahmad, a GCU student, said that he waited two hours for traffic to return to normal so he could go home after school. “I had parked my car outside GCU in the parking lot but I couldn’t get it out as there was bumper-to-bumper traffic. These protests waste many hours. If lawyers or anyone else wants to protest, they should do it peacefully without causing problems for others,” he said.

A faculty member at NCA said it would be a good idea to confine protests to Nasser Bagh. “At NCA our students get stuck on campus during these protests. Their families worry about them. There are public places in many civilised countries where people protest peacefully. This practice should be adopted here,” she said.

But the faculty member was sceptical that the lawyers would accept being confined to Nasser Bagh. “They protest and block traffic to get news coverage. Even if some space were allocated for protests, they would still come onto the roads and block traffic,” she said.

Muhammad Inam, a biker, said that it took him an hour to reach Istanbul Chowk from Bhaati Chowk. “There is a lot of space inside Nasser Bagh. If they want to hold a protest, they can do it there without causing problem for commuters, students and traders,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 5^th, 2010.