Unfortunately, be it in parliament, in a police station, at home or at any other location, we are not much aware of the norms and etiquettes of carrying out certain social and political activities. Same applies for the mode of protest. Usually protests are carried out against any kind of unfair act and aimed for a better objective but as we are not much familiar of the true norms and manners of protests so our protests turn out to be more problematic than the problem itself. It is the reason why, these protests are gradually losing their meaning, support and effectiveness in our society.

Presidential fore-runner Dr. Abdullah Abdullah announced to boycott both the Independent Election Commission and its Complaints Section due to his anger over massive poll-rigging and fraud in the second round of the presidential elections. He also announced to stage protests against the perpetrators of these fraudulent activities. In this regard, different protest camps and tents have been established in different parts of Kabul and some other cities of the country. Similarly, a mass gathering and demonstration was arranged on last Saturday.

However, it has been noticed that these demonstrations and protest tents are creating numerous problems to the citizens. At many places, these tents have been established in the most busy and crowded roads of the city by blocking the road altogether. Already crowded and over-burdened roads of capital have come under pressure with these blockades resulting in the traffic jams of many hours in almost all parts of the city. These traffic jams are making the students late to their institutions, office workers late to their workplaces while taxi drivers are very much depressed as they spend hours getting stuck in these blocked roads. In the same way, last Saturday’s protest and demonstration created immense fear in public about an armed clash and firing due to which attendance in schools and offices were badly disturbed. There are also reports that young and violent young men standing near these camps treat the common citizens harshly which is increasing anger against them.

While we support the right of every citizen to protest peacefully for his demands, we also demand that the rights of common public should not be violated. The protests must be staged in a way that public life should not be disturbed too much and there should not be any kind of danger for the lives and property of the public. We request that Dr. Abdullah himself would look into the problem and issue orders to stage these tents and camps away from the public thoroughfare. It would be in the best benefit of his political image because present situation is only making the public angry of him and those who voted for him are repenting on their decision due to their daily sufferings.