HYDERABAD: Led by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Sindh Taraqqi-pasand Party (STP) activists, Hindu residents of a 12-acre piece of land, which also houses the Kali Mata temple, staged a token hunger strike on Tuesday against attempts to grab a portion of the land.

The protesters gathered outside the local press club, where PML-N’s minority wing leader Kheal Das Kohistani, Kali Mata Shiva Mandli chairman Kirshan Kumar and general secretary Dr Amarshi Thakur, STP district leaders Dr Anwar Hajano and Dar Hassan Leghari spoke to them and fully supported their claim.

They alleged that a Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) activist was bent upon grabbing a 20,000 square-feet portion of the land, situated in Latifabad’s SITE area, where 5,000 to 6,000 Hindus had been living in their small houses for years.

The leaders and protesting Hindus vowed to resist the activist’s alleged plan to hand over the specific plot to a builder.

They alleged that the activist and his other party colleagues were harassing the Hindu residents by resorting to firing into the air on a daily basis and occupying a grocery shop located on the premises of the temple.

Claiming that the local police appeared helpless due to influence of the PPP men, they appealed to the party’s leadership to restrain the activists from their illegal activities.

Published in Dawn, June 25th, 2014