HYDERABAD, March 24: The Labour Party of Pakistan (LPP) at a meeting held here on Saturday has condemned the arrest of the general secretary of the party, Farooq Tariq, and demanded the immediate release of him and the ARD leaders.

Speaking at the meeting, the senior vice chairman of the LPP, Makhdoom Rasheed, and the chairman, Sindh chapter, Dost Mohammad Channa, said that the Punjab chapter of the party had launched a campaign against the greater Thal canal to express solidarity with the people of Sindh.

They said that party was also going to stage a protest rally in Punjab in support of the Anjuman-i-Mazaraeen (Hari Association) in Punjab.

They alleged that in order to sabotage the protest, the Lahore office of the party had been raided twice and the secretary general of the LPP had been arrested.

Criticizing the double standard of the government, they deplored that on the one hand PML (QA) had been granted permission to hold a public meeting and on the other the Labour Party and ARD had been denied this permission.

The leftist leaders demanded the immediate release of Farooq Tariq and ARD leaders failing which the party would stage a series of protest demonstrations throughout the country.

ARRESTED: During the on-going crack down against the criminals, Hyderabad region police have arrested two absconders, two criminals and recovered tow pistols, nine bullets and one motorcycle (HDN-3930) during the last 24 hours, ending Sunday evening.