HYDERABAD: Pro-Altaf Hussain graffiti appeared overnight on walls in different parts of the city congratulating Muttahida Qaumi Movement supremo on his imminent birthday but was whitewashed immediately by police on Thursday.

The graffiti that read “Happy Birthday Altaf Bhai, 17 Sept” and “Salgirah Mubarak Altaf Bhai, Ahliyaan e Hyderabad” was seen on the outer walls of Hyderabad Press Club, General Post Office, a monument in front of the press club, Gari Khata, Kohinoor Chowk and some parts of Latifabad.

Police moved into action immediately after learning about the graffiti and took no time whitewashing it.

“SHO ordered us to remove the graffiti and we’ve just finished with the task,” said a policeman of Cantonment police station.

Protest against ‘extrajudicial killing’

Activists of the Sindh Taraqqi-pasand Party staged a demonstration outside the press club on Thursday in protest against what they described as ‘extrajudicial killing’ of their colleague, Gul Mohammad, whom Phulelli police claimed to have killed in an encounter on Sept 11.

The protesters led by Jam Shaukat Ali Abro, Liaquat Joyo and Lal Chand demanded judicial inquiry into the killing and said that murder of activists in the name of action against criminals would not be tolerated.

They termed Sept 11 encounter as fake and said that Gul Mohammad was arrested in Autobahn road area 36 hours before the alleged shootout. Post mortem examination of his body also revealed that he was chained at the time of death, they claimed.

They urged journalists, members of civil society and bar councils to raise their voice against the police atrocities and appealed to Chief Justices of Supreme Court and Sindh High Court to appoint a judicial commission to probe the extrajudicial killings of political parties’ activists.

Published in Dawn, September 16th, 2016