Boston Protest Against Martial Law – Nov 10th 2007

Pakistani students from local universities and colleges held a very 
successful protest rally at the Boston Commons. The rally was attended 
by about 200 people. The students had the full support of Boston’s 
Pakistani expatriate community. Boston area Academicians,Lawyers and 
Physicians attended and spoke at the rally.

Students at Harvard, MIT and Bunker Hill Community College were among 
the key organizers of the rally to protest the attack against the 
judiciary, curbs against the media and the violance against lawyers, 
human right activists and students exercising their right of peaceful 
protest.

Students from the Berklee college of music provided the percussion 
drums and synchronized the chants of AZAADI( freedom) in a show of 
solidarity with the Students, Judiciary, Journalists,Human Rights 
activists and Media  in Pakistan.

Emerson college students were in full force with video footage and 
interviewing of the crowd documenting the protest and the right for 
free speech and expression.

Wellesley college girls were in the forefront holding banners and led 
the “march of the chain” in a symbolic message for the people of 
Pakistan who have been arrested and brutalized for speaking out.

Brandies University students were accompanied by their Professor and 
program Director. She spoke in support of the students who were at the 
rally and encouraged them to exercise their rights of free speech and 
thought.

Also in attendance was a group of students from the university of 
Massachusetts and Hamshire college at Amherst.

The chants and slogans on the posters included Azaadi (the Urdu word 
for freedom), free our judiciary, lawyers, students, media and human 
rights activists, in addition to “support the people not the dictator” 
and “help democracy end hypocrisy,” which were mainly aimed at the US 
government for its continued support of General Musharraf.

The event was addressed by students as well as professionals and 
activists in the Boston area.

_________, a student at Bunker Hill Community college, made 
announcements during the protest.

_________, a Pakistani student at Harvard, highlighted the 
importance of an independent judiciary for the people of Pakistan and 
also stressed that the war against terror can not be won unless the 
country has a properly functioning judiciary commanding the respect of 
the masses. He criticised the US policy of supporting dictators in the 
country and said that the US had to decide whether it was with the 
people of Pakistan or with the dictator.

__________, a Pakistani student at the Berklee college of music, 
spoke about how an environment of state oppression was extremely 
detrimental to creativity and made it difficult for artists like 
herself to operate.

_________, a Pakistani student at MIT, discussed the impact of 
the present crisis on the economy and how it was going to make life 
for the majority of Pakistanis living in poverty even tougher.

__________, a Harvard student from Pakistan, linked the struggle of 
the Pakistani people with similar causes in the rest of the world.

Physicians from Tufts University and Massachusetts General Hospital 
addressed the  students and highlighted the fact that most of their generation had 
grown up in Pakistan, knowing only  totalitarian regimes and dictatorship in one 
form or another. They encouraged the youth of Pakistan to revive the 
Student Movements of their country and to work for a change to wards 
democracy.

Dr. Khoso,son of  Justice Khoso shared his family’s ordeal and the 
hardship his father had recently undergone along with the arrest of 
his two brothers.

Friends of South Asia were represented among others, by lawyers like 
Lubna Mahmood and Supreme court Judge Dr. Aslam Khaki, who shared 
personal accounts of the brutalities their colleagues are facing.

Poetry from Faiz, a prominent Pakistani poet, was elloquently sung by 
Mustafa Kamal Ahmed.

Representatives from the  International Action Center and other Human 
Rights Activists also addressed the crowd. Mr. Gabriel Camado spoke 
very eloquently and shared the struggles of his people in South America.

Mary Najimi highlighted the support of the Arab American coalition for 
a US policy change in South Asia and the middle east and promised to 
spread the message of solidarity amongst the local communities.

Hassan Abbas was present and spoke to the media in favour of the 
Boston Students’ initiative
and their message of support for the students in Pakistan.

The event was also attended by local groups like the Alliance for a 
Secular and Democratic South Asia and officially endorsed by the 
Massachusetts chapter of the National Lawyers Guild, which is also 
planning to hold a demonstration on Tuesday, Nov 14 at the state house 
in Boston.

This email was circulated amongst the LUMS student body by a LUMS faculty member