June 28, 2008	Saturday	Jamadi-us-Sani 23, 1429

HYDERABAD, June 27: The Hyderabad chapter of the Sunni Tehrik has called on the authorities to take notice of the alleged atrocities unleashed by the Muttahida Qaumi Movement against ST leaders and workers.

It warned that if the authorities failed to do so, the organisation would evolve its own course of action and the government would be responsible for consequences.

Speaking at a news conference at the press club here on Friday, the provincial convener of the ST, Mohammad Khalid Qadri, and other leaders said that during the local bodies and general elections, ST workers were victimised, threatened and attacked but no one took any action and the jungle law was allowed to prevail.

The MQM was directly involved in the excesses, the ST leaders alleged and added that police continued to perform the role of a political party.

They, however, regretted that even after induction of the PPP into power, the excesses continued and just in one day, 30 cases were registered against ST workers in Karachi and one of its workers was killed and two were injured three days ago.

They reminded the PPP that they had also suffered repression and wondered why it was observing the repression as a mute spectator.

They alleged that two weeks ago, ST workers were attacked in Guru Nagar, Hyderabad, on two occasions and chalking was removed on June 14 in Pinjra Pole but police took no action against the accused although ST workers had staged a sit-in outside the Sakhi Pir police station on June 25.

They alleged that on the same day, MQM workers resorted to firing on the house of Hyderabad district convenor of the ST Mohammad Amin Qadri in which three ST workers were injured.