SARGODHA, Dec 29: The Pakistan People’s Party activists staged a huge rally to protest Ms Benazir Bhutto’s killing here on Saturday, which was later also joined by PML-N workers.

The participants in PPP rally led by party’s poll nominees Tasneem Ahmad Qureshi, Mirza Afzaal, Dr.Nadia Aziz and Rai Tahir expressed their anguish by damaging Habib Bank’s Katchery Bazaar branch and some shops in Amin Bazaar and Sarafa Bazaar. They also smashed the front and rear windshields of cars parked in a taxi stand.

The PPP protestors, who were also joined by hundreds of PML-N workers led by Abdul Razzaq Dhilon, chanted slogans against President Pervez Musharraf and former Punjab chief minister Chaudhry Pervez Elahi and torched their effigies.

Observers are comparing the PPP rally with those taken out during Tehrik Khatm-e-Nubuwat in 1954 as far as anguish of the protesters was concerned. The joint rally took a round of the city before the protesters dispersed.

Meanwhile, lawyers offered funeral prayers of Ms Benazir Bhutto. In their speeches following the prayers they held the government responsible for the tragic incident. Besides a complete business shutdown, acute shortage of public transport was also witnessed in the district. However, a few private cars and motorbikes were seen on the roads which were pelted with stones by the protestors at some places.

Petrol pumps and CNG stations all over the district were also kept close, affecting the vehicle owners. Among the worst hit were relatives of patients in critical condition who could not find ambulances to shift them to the hospitals. Heavy police deployment was witnessed around government offices.