UMERKOT: A complete shutter-down was observed in several towns here as students and general public staged a sit-in at Allah Wala Chowk for seven hours on Thursday, demanding police to immediately arrest lawyer Poonjo Bheel nominated in the murder case of Rajnesh Malhi.

According to details, on the call of a students’ action committee, a shutter-down was observed in Umerkot, Samaro, Dhoronaro, Ghulam Nabi Shah and other towns of the district. All bazaars and shopping centres remained closed while vehicular traffic remained off the road.

The massive sit-in was observed in the sweltering heat. A lot of people, along with hundreds of students, gathered to demand justice for Rajnesh Malhi. They said that an office-bearer of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) minority wing and former MPA, Poonjo Bheel, under the influence of alcohol crushed Rajnesh to death and wounded his five friends while driving a car, bearing registration number GSC-849, which was property of Sindh Assembly.

They said that seven days had passed, but police failed to take action against the accused as he was an influential lawyer.

Addressing the protesters on telephone, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) MNA Lalchand Malhi said that the murder of Rajnesh was a “targeted killing”. He said people had been protesting for seven days, but the suspect was roaming freely as police was playing a role of silent spectator.

The entire Sindh, he said, was mourning the death of the young man, but not a single person on behalf of the Sindh government opened mouth against the killing.

He assured students’ action committee to raise his voice on every forum for justice to the aggrieved family. He thanked the people of Umerkot who felt the pain of Rajnesh and kept their businesses shut. He described the murder of Rajnesh as the murder of humanity.

Speaking on the occasion, Dharam Das Malhi, former UC nazim, called upon the Sindh inspector general of police to play his role and provide justice to the bereaved family, observing that justice delayed was justice denied.

Others who also spoke on the occasion were representatives of students committee including Dr Sarang, Vikram Kumar and Ramesh Waghani. They said it was a clear murder and recalled that the DSP of Umerkot assured them to arrest Poonjo Bheel, but police did not make any serious effort to arrest the accused.

They threatened to broaden the scope of their protest if police kept playing their traditional tricks.

SANGHAR: Members of Malhi community staged a demonstration outside local press club here on Thursday in protest against suspected murder of Rajnesh Malhi in Umerkot a couple of days before.

The protesters told reporters that former PPP legislator advocate Poonjo Bheel deliberately drove his car into Rajnesh, a student of MUET, and his friends.

Published in Dawn, September 13th, 2019