KARACHI, Nov 16: The Deputy District Officer (DDO) and Special Judicial Magistrate of Saddar Town, Lal Mohammed Kalhoro, granted bail on Friday to 35 activists of the Pakistan People’s Party, including 15 women, who were being held for violating Section 144 of the Criminal Procedures Code (CrPC).

The activists were arrested on Thursday from outside the Karachi Press Club and the Submarine intersection while protesting against the house arrest in Lahore of Benazir Bhutto, the imposition of emergency rule, the termination of the services of the chief justice of Pakistan and other judges, and the curbs laid on the media. A case against 20 of the arrested workers was registered at the Gizri police station while another concerning 15 activists was registered at the Frere police station. The court granted bail to the 35 PPP workers against surety bonds of Rs10,000 each.

Saeed Ghani, the information secretary of the PPP (Karachi) and opposition leader in Karachi City Council, told Dawn that around 10 leaders and activists of the party remained under custody at the Darakshan police station. These include Yousuf Talpur, Rafiq Engineer, Afaq Shahid and Hameed Qureshi. According to Mr Ghani, they had been arrested while protesting. The PPP leader said, however, that the demonstrations would continue until the Constitution was restored and freedom was achieved for the press and the judiciary.