February 01, 2008	Friday	Muharram 22, 1429

LARKANA, Jan 31: Tension prevailed in the Banguldero town of Larkana district when the area people hurled stones on the vehicles of a convoy of Pakistan Muslim League-backed Sachal Alliance on Thursday.

Safiullah Abro, the chairman of alliance, while talking to Dawn, blamed the Pakistan People’s Party activists for the incident. On the other hand, Anwar Bhutto, general secretary of Larkana PPP, accused Mr Abro’s guards of resorting to firing. Mr Bhutto said that the firing targeted his house when he was busy in Garhi Khuda Bakhsh Bhutto regarding the chehlum arrangements of late Benazir Bhutto.

Mr Abro said that the two supporters of the alliance, Inayatullah and Hidayatullah, were injured and the glasses of vehicles were broken. He accused Mr Bhutto which the latter refuted.

Afterwards, activists of the alliance staged a sit-in and blocked Larkana-Ratodero road near Wassand Shakh for two hours.

The chairman of the alliance talked to the Rangers’ Col Mukhtiar and the

DSPs of Ratodero and Larkana for registering an FIR and then cleared the road. Meanwhile, Mr Bhutto said that he had talked with the DPO Larkana, DSP and Maj of Rangers and told them of excesses by the SA.

Tension had been running high in the area while police struggled to pacify the situation.

Later, Mushtaq Jalbani, the senior vice chairman of the alliance, lodged case of attack, firing and damaging of vehicles against 100 activists of Pakistan Peoples Party.

The accused include Ayaz Soomro, district president PPP Larkana who is a candidate from PS-37, Anwar Bhutto, general secretary PPP Larkana and former MNA, Khursheed Junejo, former district nazim Larkana who is the constituency in-charge of late Benazir Bhutto, Abdul Fatah Bhutto and others.

The complainant alleged that hundreds of the PPP workers on instigation of Anwar Bhutto and Khursheed Junejo attacked the workers of SA in Banguldero, fired at them and damaged their vehicles when they reached in the town for election campaign.

The SA’s chairman Saifullah Abro and his rival Anwar Bhutto talking to Dawn on late Thursday night confirmed the registration of FIR.