HYDERABAD, May 13: While activists and supporters of the Pakistan Peoples Party staged a sit-in at Fateh Chowk against alleged rigging by its rivals in the May 11 elections, a shutterdown was observed across the PS-47 constituency on a call given by Qaumi Awami Tehrik (QAT) Ayaz Latif Palijo to press the election commission to order a re-election there.

Mr Palijo believes that his victory was turned into defeat by PPP and its ally, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), through rigging and unfair means.

All shops, fuel stations and business, commercial and trade establishments in Qasimabad, part of the PS-47 constituency, remained closed throughout the day and vehicular traffic thin in response to the QAT call.

Activists of QAT and its women wing, the Sindhyani Tehrik, held protest demonstrations and sit-ins at three different places — Naseem Nagar Chowk, Ponum Chowk and Agriculture Complex — raising slogans against PPP and MQM.

Carrying banners, placards and party flags, the protesters also burnt tyres and junk to block various thoroughfares in their hours-long protests.

QAT activists Noor Ahmed Kathiar and Roshan Birhamani and Sindhyani Tehrik leaders Umrah Sammo and Husna Rahujo spoke to the protesters and vowed to continue the street protests until the election commission ordered re-election for the seat.

They urged the Election Commission of Pakistan and the apex court to order verification of the thumb impressions on ballot papers to establish the scale of bogus voting in the constituency.

Mr Kathiar also claimed that four of his party colleagues were picked up by Rangers from outside Saima Plaza, near City Gate, during a protest over rigging. He said Amjad Palijo, Sikandar, Akbar Abro and Sajjad Chandio had been missing since then and Rangers officials were not informing the party of their whereabouts.

At Fateh Chowk in Hyderabad, PPP activists and supporters held a four-hour sit-in and kept the road closed to vehicular traffic till 4pm. Carrying banners and party flags, the protesters raised slogans against alleged rigging in the election for NA-219.

Led by Shabbir Sangrasi, Sher Mohammad and others, they protesters claimed that PPP polling agents in the area had been held hostage and beaten up by MQM activists on Saturday to rig the election. They appealed to the ECP to order a free and fair re-polling in this constituency. Meanwhile, a Quetta-bound truck was attacked and set on fire near the venue of the PPP sit-in on Tando Yousuf Road.

The truck carrying airconditioners, TV sets and refrigerators was partially damaged and some of the electrical appliances were destroyed in the fire by the time its driver with the help of some onlookers managed to extinguish it. The arsonists fled from the scene after attacking the truck, SHO of the Site police station said.