KARACHI, Nov 10: Opposition leaders on Monday demanded that all political prisoners, including Makhdoom Javed Hashmi and Asif Ali Zardari, be released immediately and that the former premiers, Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif, be allowed to return home.

They were speaking at the protest camp established by the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy (ARD), Sindh, outside the Karachi Press Club.

Leader of the Opposition in the Sindh Assembly Nisar Khuhro said the government had no right to rule over the country as it had usurped rights of the people. He said that for the past seven years, it had been keeping Asif Ali Zardari in prison after implicating him in false cases. He lamented that no one knew about the whereabouts of the ARD chief Javed Hashmi. Similarly, he added, Mohajir Qaumi Movement’s Yunus Khan was also languishing in a jail.

A large number of political leaders and activists had gathered at the camp to give vent to their anger against the government.

Acting president of the PML-N, Sindh, Imdad Chandio declared that the gathering at the camp was ‘a vote of no confidence’ against the government and vowed to continue the struggle for the supremacy of the parliament and rights of the people.

General Secretary of the ARD, Sindh, Zain Ansari deplored politics of vengeance and crushing political opponents. He expressed concern over the wellbeing of Makhdoom Hashmi.