May 14, 2007	Monday	Rabi-us-Sani 26, 1428

QUETTA, May 13: Opposition parties in Balochistan have given a call for strike in the province for Monday. They will hold rallies on Tuesday to condemn the killing of innocent political activists, blaming the MQM for the violence.

The provincial acting president of ANP, Asghar Khan Achakzai, chaired a meeting in the Bacha Khan centre on Sunday that was attended

by Bismiullah Kakar (PPP Parliamentarians), Nasrullah Zeray (PMAP), Sajid Tareen (BNP-Mengal), Ayaz Swati (PML-N), Ishaq Baloch (NP), Maulana Abdul Haq Hashmi (JI), and Zamarak Achakzai (ANP).

The meeting held the MQM leadership responsible for the bloodshed in Karachi. It was stated at the meeting that no political party, including the MQM, could be permitted to play with the fate of members of democratic parties in Karachi.

It was also stated that opposition parties were struggling for constitutional rule and independence of the judiciary.

The statement issued after the meeting said that the visits of the Chief Justice to Sukkur, Rawalpindi, Peshawar and Lahore remained peaceful as not a single party, including the PML-Q, obstructed the welcome reception to the chief justice.

The meeting said that the chief justice’s address to the Sindh Bar Association had been announced prior to the rally of the MQM.

It stated that the MQM leadership had wanted to subvert the programme of the chief justice by arranging a rally on the day when the chief justice was to attend the bar function.

The statement appealed to traders and people in the province to observe the shutter-down strike on Monday and participate in the protest rally on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, PPP Parliamentarians held a protest demonstration outside the press club and denounced the violence in Karachi on Saturday that claimed 34 lives.

The party held the Sindh Government and the MQM responsible for the killing of innocent people.

The protestors offered Ghaibana Namaaz Janaza in the lawn of the city district government for the victims of Karachi.