HYDERABAD, Feb 26: The Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz has given a call for a strike on March 1 throughout Sindh in protest against arrest of party general secretary Dr Safdar Sarki in Karachi.

Speaking at a news conference at the press club here on Sunday, JSQM chairman Bashir Qureshi, vice-chairman Dr Niaz Kalani and other party leaders said Dr Sarki was picked up by law-enforcement agencies from his apartment in Noman Plaza on Feb 23 without any reason.

They said no case was pending against him at any police station.

Condemning what they called kidnapping of Dr Sarki, they said they had contacted all police stations and senior police officers but no-one had accepted the responsibility for his arrest.

They termed it state terrorism and warned that if Dr Sarki was not released immediately, the party would launch a struggle throughout Sindh.

Mr Qureshi said Sindhis were the true heirs of the province and it was no crime to struggle for one’s inherent rights.

He alleged that Dr Sarki had been tortured in presence of hundreds of people. He said his life was in danger.

He called upon people and human rights organizations to take notice of detention of Dr Sarki and appealed to political parties and patriotic elements of Sindh to observe a strike on March 1.

He also appealed to chief justices of the Supreme Court and the Sindh High Court to take suo motu action in the matter.

Answering a question, he said Dr Sarki had not been produced in any court since his arrest and he was being held incommunicado.

When asked whether Dr Sarki had been arrested at the behest of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement against whom he had held a press conference a day before his arrest, Mr Qureshi said he would not say that the MQM was involved but added that being in the government it must have known about the arrest.

He said the people of Sindh in general had reservations about the Muttahida’s role.

Workers of the JSQM also held a protest demonstration outside the press club against the arrest.