Lahore Civil society members have expressed concern over the situation prevailing in the country and said the country is going towards chaos. Militancy will be strong and the anti-democratic forces will impose their agenda on majority, said a social activist, Tanveer Jahan, while talking to The News. Everyone has right to protest in a democratic set-up, he said, adding that majority of the people elected the government. Religious people should not be allowed to disrupt democratic process with the help of hidden forces. Majority cannot be deprived of their rights. The way adopted by the clerics was totally wrong. Unfortunately, the state has become crippled in the hands of clerics. They don’t accept the verdict issued by the courts. The way they tried to influence the state is unacceptable, said Tanveer. Clerics have lost their sympathies among the masses, he added. Gulam Fatima, a rights campaigner, expressed grief over the situation and said that typical mindset was totally against democratic process. Civil liberties are confined during protest in the Lahore. Did any religious leader thinks about the livelihood of the labours and how much they suffered?, she questioned. "They are not serving Islam; the clerics are going against the real spirit of our peaceful religion. There is no concept to close the ways/roads in Islam," she said. Writ of the state must be established at every cost, she added. Social activist Irfan Mufti said the protest could be managed easily. Institutions should perform their duties to end the protest in the province and capital of the country, he added. He said there was still room for a political solution. The institutions should work in their domain and work vigilantly. Democratic institutions cannot be ended. The conspiracies need to be ended now. The country is already passing through crisis. According to him, some of the powers were interested in spreading rumors and will take advantage of the situation. Unfortunately, the city is full of rumors and uncertainty. There should not be media blackout as it was attack on freedom of expression. No civil government seems in sight, he added.
