Shemrez Tumbling

Approximately 2,000 people were in front of the Governor’s House, Mall Road, Lahore, at 5pm today to protest the brutal assassination of Salmaan Taseer and to condemn the atrocities the mullahs and far-right politicians have continually committed on peace-loving, progressive Pakistanis.

This is Lahore Pakistan: January 07, 2011. Sorry for the bad picture quality; I’ll take my camera next time and NOT use my phone camera :P

Those of you who think that Pakistan is on the brink of becoming a failed state, think again.

Those of you who think the mullah‘s own us and our lives, that they can scare us and silence us, think again.

This is the Sane Pakistan – a silent and nonviolent majority. These are the citizens of Lahore, mourning the death of her brave and valiant son, Salmaan Taseer. This is the Sane Pakistan which calls a murder and murder and does not idolize a murderer.

Call us liberal, call us secular, call us progressive, call us whatever you want.

We are Pakistan. Make no mistake about it.

Every country has its problems. True that.

But Pakistanis are conscious of their responsibilities and cognizant of the fact that a violent minority led by fringe lunatics has barked up the wrong tree.

Despite continuous threats and scary faces, the vigil continued, and with passions and sorrow running high, it almost turned into a protest with attendees marching onto Punjab Assembly. While it took time and effort to stop the protesters and get them to return to the Governor House gate, it was already too late; chants against fundamentalism, mullah-ism and the establishment were heard on all sides of The Mall.

Why? Because enough is enough. We are all equal. And if you can’t see that, we will bring sanity and rationality to you.

The silent, nonviolent majority has shunned its silence now. The mullahs must learn their lesson before the majority feeds them their own medicine; bullets and bombs. The time for silence is now over. It is your choice; accept that we have a right to our country and a right to live in it freely. Otherwise YOU will be responsible for anything other than candles and placards finding their way into our hands…

Postscript: Sorry to all the commuters. In retrospect, if you have a beard, you should be glad we didn’t maul you :p