QUETTA: Women workers of the Pakistan Peoples Party, Balochistan chapter, staged a protest demonstration on Saturday against arrest of former president Asif Ali Zardari and his sister Faryal Talpur.

Carrying placards and banners inscribed with slogans against the government and the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), the protesters marched on streets of the provincial capital and later gathered outside the press club.

The protest was led by PPP provincial woman wing president Ghazala Gola.

Speaking to party workers, Ms Gola strongly condemned the arrest of the PPP leaders by NAB and said that through these arrests the PTI government wanted to pressurise the PPP leadership to bow down and vote in favour of its budget proposal.

“The PPP was never afraid of arrests because we faced incarcerations during dictatorships. The PTI government should understand that what they are doing today would come back to them in future,” Ms Gola said and demanded immediate release of Mr Zardari and Ms Talpur.

The protesters expressed their dismay over the attitude of NAB and said that the PTI government was using the anti-graft body as a tool against its opponents.

They said that many sitting ministers and PTI leaders also were involved in cases but NAB had not taken action against them.

Published in Dawn, June 17th, 2019