Washington, Nov 12: Students in Pakistan may not have hit the roads as yet to protest against the imposition of emergency, but their counterparts in the US held a protest rally at the Boston Common.

About 200 Pakistani students from local universities and colleges, and members of the community participated in the rally on Saturday to register their protest against President General Pervez Musharraf’s decision to declare an emergency, the Daily Times reported.

The rally, organised primarily by the students of Harvard, MIT and Bunker Hill Community College, condemned the attack on the judiciary, curbs on the media and violence against lawyers, human right activists and students exercising their right of peaceful protest.

They urged Washington to support the people of Pakistan instead of President Musharraf.

Students from the Berklee College of Music came with percussion drums and synchronised the chants of ‘Azadi’ in a show of solidarity with Pakistani students, the judiciary, journalists and human rights activists, the daily said.

Students from Emerson College came with video footage and interviewed people from the crowd to document the event. Wellesley College girls were in the forefront holding banners and leading what they called the “march of the chain” in a symbolic message for the people of Pakistan who have been arrested and brutalised for speaking out.

A group of students from the Massachusetts University and Hampshire College at Amherst was also present at the rally.

The rally not only saw participation of students, as Brandies University students were accompanied by their professor and programme director. Professors spoke in support of the students attending the rally and encouraged them to exercise their right of free speech and thought. (ANI)