Chanting slogans such as “free the lawyers” and “Musharaff quit Pakistan,” the students sought to raise awareness on the current turmoil in Pakistan.
“We wanted to make some sort of noise,” said Muhammad Adil Islam ’11 of Pakistan, who helped organize the demonstration. “The way it is right now [in Pakistan], most people don’t know about,” he added.
On the evening of Nov. 3, Musharraf declared a state of emergency in Pakistan, firing Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Iftikhar Chaudhry and suspending the nation’s Constitution, according to The New York Times. Since then, in a crackdown on opposition, security forces have arrested 2,500 civilians.
Islam said protests in Pakistan have been stymied by Pakistani security forces, but there have been a number of protests in New York City and Washington, D.C. These were the inspiration for Sunday’s Amherst gathering. “Due to all the protests, there might be enough pressure for the government to leave,” said Islam.
The protest was also in opposition to the United States’ support of Musharraf. “The common man can’t do much except put pressure on the U.S. government to not support the Pakistani government.”
Islam noted that many students involved in the protests were not from Pakistan. “It shows you don’t have to be a part of what’s going on to care about what’s going on.”
A larger, Five College protest is in the works.