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HYDERABAD: Scores of Pakistan Peoples Party activists and relatives of the missing aides of party co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari held a demonstration in protest against mysterious disappearance of Ghulam Qadir Marri, Ashfaque Leghari and Nawab Leghari.
Carrying flags of the PPP and banners, they shouted slogans against the federal government, in the lead of political activist Mir Haider Ali Khan Talpur, Afzal Gujjar, Jawaid Ali Leghari, Saeed Marri and others.
Addressing the participants, they demanded of the federal government that the three missing persons should be produced in a court of law if they had committed any kind of felony, instead of their “enforced disappearance”.
They highlighted services of the “abducted” associates of Mr Zardari towards the people of Sindh and the province.
They appealed to the chief of army staff and chief justice of Pakistan to play their role in their safe recovery immediately.
Reiterating, they demanded that the missing persons must be produced in court forthwith, otherwise “corrupt” politicians, including Nawaz Sharif, Ishaq Dar, Jahangir Tareen and others, must be placed under house arrest.
Press conference
Addressing a press conference at his residence here on Tuesday, Hyderabad division PPP president Syed Ali Nawaz Shah Rizvi said that disappearance of the associates of Asif Ali Zardari was aimed at harassing the PPP.
Flanked by Hyderabad district chapter president Saghir Ahmed Qureshi, and rural district president Amjad Shah Jillani, he demanded that they should be produced before court immediately.
Mr Rizvi said that if those detainees were not released, strong reaction would be seen in Sindh. He said Ghulam Qadir Marri was a close friend of Asif Zardari and was not a politician. But he was picked up only for being an associate of the PPP co-chairman.
He said the disappearance of the three persons was aimed at pressurising the PPP and threatening it. He said Mr Marri was ill and such detention could endanger his life.
Describing their disappearance as “state terrorism”, he urged that the detainees be produced before court within 24 hours as now they were illegally detained.
He maintained that Asif Zardari was trying to persuade the Baloch to end insurgency, but now another conspiracy was being hatched to annoy them. He warned of strong reaction from the PPP if they were not released soon.
Saghir Qureshi and Amjad Shah Jillani said that rulers were using some black sheep in the institutions to ‘disappear’ rivals. They threatened to block the roads in Punjab if they were not set free.
Published in Dawn, April 12th, 2017
