LAHORE – Family members of the three men, who were killed by Raymond Davis, along with hundreds of activists of Insaf Students Federation (ISF) on Thursday rallied against Davis and demanded that he should be charged under terrorist offences. The protesters threatened the federal and provincial governments for a mass movement if their demands were not fulfilled.
The protesters rallied from Qartaba Chowk Mozang to Shimla Hill, a few yards away from the American Consulate building. The protesters also demanded from the US Consulate to handover other Americans who were involved in killing the motorcyclist, Ebad-ur-Rehman.
ANTI-US SLOGANEERING: Protesters were carrying banners, flags and placards, and chanted slogans against the US involvement in the country, demanding capital punishment for Davis. The participants raised the following slogans: ‘Hang Raymond’, ‘America Terrorist’, ‘America kay Yaron Ko Aik Dhaka Aur Do’ (Give another ram to America’s allies),
while the placards were inscribed with: ‘We want justice’, ‘American terrorist should be hanged’, ‘Chief Justice notice lo’ (Take notice Chief justice), ‘America Ka Jo Yar Hai- Ghadar Hai, Ghadar Hai’ (Whosoever is America’s pal is a traitor) etc.
INVOKING THE CJ:
Rasheed, Faizan Haider’s brother-in-law, expressed dissatisfaction over the police investigation and said they did not trust the government, who was ‘deliberately weakening’ the case against the US citizen and was portraying victims as robbers. He asked the Chief Justice of Supreme Court of Pakistan to take action.
TRIAL UNDER TERORRISM ACT: Sajjad-ur-Rehman, Ebad-ur-Rehman’s brother, who was killed by the US consulate’s vehicle, also demanded that Davis’s trial should be held under terrorism acts. He said Americans who reached to rescue Davis aimed guns at general public when they tried to stop the car, which crushed his brother to death.
He demanded the government to ask the US Consulate to handover the four persons sitting in the vehicle who ran over Ebad. Wasim, Fahim’s brother, said they were receiving several offers to acquit Davis from murder charges.
‘WILL KILL EVERY AMERICAN’: PTI President Lahore Wing Mian Mehmood-ur-Rasheed said Davis was a ‘professional killer’ and a member of ‘black water’. ISF President Hassan Khan Niazi maintained that if government will provide safe passage to Davis then they will take law into their hands and will ‘kill every American present in the US Consulate’.
‘STAND BY AAFIA’: Dr Fozia Siddiqui, Dr Aafia Siddiqui’s sister, also telephonically addressed the gathering from Karachi. She believed that if Pakistan stood behind Dr Aafia like America was standing behind Raymond, then Aafia will be released.
SECURITY ARRANGEMENTS: The Lahore Police provided security to the rally participants, deploying contingents of police at rally’s route, under the supervision of divisional SPs.
TRAFFIC CONGESTION: Meanwhile, Jail Road, Fatima Jinnah Road and Mall Road remained congested owing to improper diversions which added to the miseries of commuters.
Protesters demand capital punishment for Raymond Davis
