KARACHI, May 10: The Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal has given a call for a peaceful strike in Sindh on Friday against the government’s failure in arresting those involved in the Nishtar Park bomb blast, as well as the increasing incidents of killing and plunder in the city, demolition of old villages, price hike and the repeated increase in POL prices.

Prof Ghafoor Ahmad, a central leader of MMA and Naib Amir of Jamaat-i-Islami, told a press conference at the Idara Noor-i-Haq on Wednesday that the protest strike coincided with the anniversary of the nine MMA workers, who were killed on the eve of by-election in Karachi on May 12, 2004.

Prof Ghafoor said that the decision was being made public today after it was endorsed by more than a dozen parties, including PPP, PML-N, JUI-F, JUP, IT, PTI, ANP and STPPP. Condemning the government’s policies, he said: “It is our misfortune that such a government has been imposed on us. The government has been pursuing the ‘sabotage Pakistan programme’ and has already turned Karachi and other parts of Sindh into the strongholds of terrorists.”

He said that violence and killing in Karachi and its educational institutions was being patronised by the provincial government because Gen Pervez Musharraf had given a free hand to the MQM only to prolong his rule.

The MMA leader said that in the Nishtar Park tragedy, the entire Sunni Tehrik leadership was wiped out but the government had failed to arrest those involved in the bombing.

He said the government tried to describe the bombing as suicide attack and also termed it a conspiracy to trigger sectarian riots in its bid to cover up its crime. “How would the culprits be arrested when they are sitting in the government?” he remarked.Maulana Abdul Karim Abid of JUI-F said that price hike had made people’s life miserable. He also pointed out that old villages were being razed under a calculated move.

Siddique Rathor said that people were fed up with the rulers’ anti-people policies.

Zubair Khan of PTI, Amin Khattak of ANP, Basharat Mirza of PDP, Mufti Usman Yar Khan of JUI-S, Ali Hasan Chandio of STPPP, Ghulam Sarwar Awan of PPI, and Abdul Sattar Khokhar of PAT also spoke at the press conference.