BADIN: Police registered a First Information Report (FIR) against former Sindh home minister and estranged Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leader Dr Zulfiqar Mirza and his aides under various sections of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) and the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) on Sunday.

FIR no. 157, filed by local traders' leader Imtiaz Memon, was registered under sections 365, 395, 324, 337 h2 of the PPC and sections 6 and 7 of the ATA against Zulfiqar Mirza, 26 known and 60 unknown people at Badin Model Police Station.

Dilber Sindhi, Peroze Shahani, and Abdul Wahid Chandio are among those nominated in the FIR.

Earlier today, the situation in Badin turned tense when Zulfiqar Mirza, along with hundreds of his supporters, besieged the Model Police Station to register a case against alleged police excesses against his supporters in the Badin district.

Mirza alleged that his aide Nadeem Mughal had been taken into detention illegally and that was why he had gone to the police station with his supporters.

He asked police officials to lodge an FIR based on complaints made by his aide Nadeem against PPP MNA Sardar Kamal Khan Chang, PPP Badin General Secretary Aziz Memon, Taj Mohammad Mallah, traders' leader Imtiaz Ahmed Memon, and other PPP leaders and police officials.

Nadeem Mughal was allegedly arrested by the Crime Investigation Agency for unknown charges but was later released after a protest by supporters.

Prior to his entry into the police station, Mirza's supporters and guards forcibly shut down Taj Mohammad Mallah's and Imtiaz Ahmed's shops. Both Mallah and Ahmed recently joined the PPP during Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah's visit to Badin a few days earlier.

Zulfiqar Mirza claims that Nadeem Mughal was whisked away on the behest of those he had lodged complaints against. While speaking to media, he said he would go to any extreme to protect his supporters from those he referred to as "wolves".

Mirza warned former president Asif Ali Zardari and functionaries of the Sindh government to bridle their leaders, and made it clear he was ready to be arrested for his cause.

Mirza and his supporters dispersed from the police station after the police's refusal to register an FIR.

Following calls from both Mirza's group, as well as those of other PPP leaders, all shops and business centres in the area were shut down, while hundreds of workers staged a rally against what they referred to as "terrorism" by the disowned PPP leader Zulfiqar Mirza and his supporters.

Taj Mohammad Mallah, Imtiaz Ahmed Memon and others had strongly demanded the registration of an FIR against Mirza under the ATA.

During the rally, some miscreants resorted to aerial firing, creating panic in the area. A heavy contingent of police and other law enforcement agencies were deployed in the city to avert any untoward incident.

MNA Sardar Kamal Chang, while talking to Dawn.com, strongly condemned Zulfiqar Mirza's actions, saying that PPP supporters would resist such "acts of terrorism."

He alleged that Zulfiqar Mirza behaved like a "dacoit, breaking the locks of shops and smashing the gate of a police station."

Chang said he was on his way to Badin to rectify the situation as, according to him, infuriated PPP workers had threatened to torch and besiege Mirza's farmhouse at Mourjhar.

Chang said he had informed the leadership about the volatile situation in the city.

Multiple FIRs

Later in the day, two more FIRs were registered against Mirza and 33 of his supporters on similar charges.

Heavy contingents of police from Hyderabad, Tharparkar, Sujawal, Thatta, Tando Mohammad Khan and others areas began arriving in Badin under supervision of SSPs.

Sources said a raid could be conducted at Mirza’s farmhouse at Mourjhar tonight to arrest him.

The police has so far arrested four of Mirza’s accomplices, according to reports.

Earlier, MNA Sardar Kamal Khan Chang along with MPAs Mohammad Nawaz Chandio, Mir Allah Bux Talpur and local PPP leaders Dr Aziz Memon and Nadir Hussain Khowaja addressed a press conference demanding Mirza’s immediate arrest.

They also requested their party leadership to serve notices to Mirza’s wife MNA Dr Fehmida Mirza and their son MPA Barrister Husnain Mirza to clarify whether they stood with Zulfiqar Mirza or the PPP.