KARACHI, May 21: Two big demonstrations were staged by the Jaferia Alliance and the Imamia Students Organisation on Sunday against the continued detention of Shia youths.

A procession, organised by the Jaferia Alliance, was taken out from the Rizvia Imambargah on Sunday night. The participants marched up to the Nazimabad Chowrangi No.1 and blocked vehicular traffic at the intersection.

Mainly comprising youths, the protesters chanted slogans against the United States, as well as the Pakistani rulers who, they deplored, were acting at the behest of the US administration.

They lit bonfire and put barricades to block the main roads leading to Golimar, and pelted passing vehicles with stones. Police remained on the sidelines, and after several hours, the protesters dispersed.

Earlier, ISO staged a demonstration and an hour-long sit-in outside the Governor’s House. Among the participants were the family members of the Shia youth picked up by the law-enforcement agencies from different parts of the city over the past few weeks.The demonstrators, mainly comprising women and children, were led by Prof Shaista Zaidi.

They started their march from the Imambargah Ali Raza on M. A. Jinnah Road and proceeded to Saddar on their way to the Karachi Press Club. However, after reaching the Zainab Market intersection, the protesters took a turn towards the Aiwan-i-Sadar Road instead of the KPC.

The change of route prompted police to intervene and a number of police mobiles surrounded the marchers.

The protesters continued to raise slogans against the government, questioning the justification for the detention of the youths. They deplored that the agencies were also not disclosing the whereabouts of the detained youths.

Police tried to persuade the women protesters to disperse as no representative of the governor was present at the Governor’s House due to the day being a weekly holiday.

Prof Shaista Zaidi told them that they were holding a peaceful protest and only wanted to present a memorandum to the governor.

At one point, policemen loaded their teargas guns in an attempt to disperse the protesters, but the TPO Saddar reportedly intervened to defuse the situation.

The tension mounted when troops arrived to take up security at the Governor’s House in connection with President Gen Pervez Musharraf’s visit, who was in the city on Sunday.

Finally, a memorandum was received by an official of the Governor’s House on behalf of the governor.

The protesters announced that if the detained youths were not released within 24 hours, they would continue to stage similar protests.

Later, the protesters dispersed peacefully.

Meanwhile, Senator Allama Abbas Kumaili told Dawn on Sunday that he had urged the governor and senior government functionaries to raise the issue of detentions on the floor of the Senate. None of them had given any clear answer to his question that why the Shia youths were being detained.

He said that around 12 youths had been picked up from different parts of the city till today.