Violent protests

The recent reprinting of the Danish cartoons, were printed some months back, has touched a very sensitive nerve in the Muslim world. They have ignited a bush fire, fanned by the insensitivities of certain European newspapers, which continues to burn right across the Muslim world.
Protests have taken place, not only in the Muslim world, but wherever there is a large and strong Muslim community. In Pakistan, the violence has been more intense and violent, with the religion-based political parties staging rallies in almost all the major cities.
However, the sad and tragic part is, that in their expression of anger, their demonstrations have turned violent, causing loss of innocent civilians lives and the destruction of government and private property worth billions of rupees. At the same time, they have sent a wrong message to the West, endorsing their fears that we are a violent society.
Our newspapers and TV channels have covered the violence that has erupted in our cities quite vividly, but to give you an insight of what happened in Lahore, here are some eyewitness reports: Mrs Raja, 30, a banker who was caught in the melee on Egerton Road on Tuesday, describes the situation vividly: "An uneasy calm prevailed in the city on Thursday after two days of rioting. The sheer shock of what happened on Tuesday and Wednesday is hard to get over."
"My mother watched it with utter horror on TV, making frantic calls every few minutes to find out if I was safe. She said that the television footage of the looting and vandalism going on in the street reminded her of the images coming out of Baghdad when it fell to the Americans and there was utter chaos every where."
And Ahmad Ali, a post-graduate art student said: "it was not just Lahore anymore. I've seen nothing like this happening in this city in the 11 years that I have lived here. I came out on the street and saw a band of club-wielding youngsters who were pushing and pulling to bring down the Zamzama gun on The Mall. Some boys had climbed up, onto the gun and pretended to be in the battleground".
"Another bunch was frantically beating Woolner's bronze statue outside the Old Campus with bamboo sticks". Woolner was a former principal of the Oriental College, Lahore, who later became the vice-chancellor of the Punjab University. His is the only statue that still graces The Mall.
Yasir Jamil, a final-year university student, observed: "As a Muslim I am deeply hurt at the provocation the sacrilegious caricatures have caused across the world. But the way some of us have chosen to protest reinforces the Muslim stereotype that the non-Muslim world has of us, that we are an uncouth, unruly mob and need to be contained if the world is to be safe place."
Unfortunately, the above description could be of any city of Pakistan, where katchi abadis have sprung up without any planning, no development has taken place and they have been totally ignored. Buildings and streets have been constructed haphazardly and lack basic infrastructure like water, sewerage systems, schools, hospitals, etc.
They air in these dirty and polluted streets is dank and life here is cruel, a struggle and a daily nightmare. The citizens from these hovels have no access to education and health facilities. For them, the trickle down effect that our government keeps talking about, is a joke and they have lost hope in the government improving the quality of their lives.
Even the scenes witnessed in Islamabad were alarming and frightening, where young boys in school uniform and not from madrassas, were seen smashing hoardings and traffic lights on Zero Point, Constitution Avenue and near the Serena Hotel and even the diplomatic enclave.
However, the same protest processions were taken out the next day in the usually violent city of Karachi and they were just as big, but because the administration had taken serious note of the violence that could have also taken placed and had taken appropriate steps, they were totally peaceful. This has fuelled the theory that the some "hidden hands" deliberately allowed the situation to spin out of control.
Analysts agree that the violence witnessed in the streets of the cities of Pakistan is also linked with the lack of good governance, basic facilities, rising prices of essential items and unemployment. Economic deprivation has led to the deep anger and frustration in the youth of this country.