HYDERABAD, June 27: District council members of the Awam Dost Panel (ADP) stayed away from the budget session and observed a token hunger strike, demanding action against their counterparts who manhandled them on June 21.

When District Naib Nazim Zafar Ali Rajput and some members requested them to attend the session, they refused to call-off the strike and insisted on action against the members responsible for manhandling.

Mehboob Abro, Yamin Soomro, Shafqat Shah, Khan Mohammad Chandio, Abbas Khan, Hassan Bux Budhani, Saleem Jahejo, Zahida Memon and Ishrat Pasha participated in the protest which was organised by the Nazim Ittehad.

They were raising slogans: “Restore the Dignity of the Council and Do Justice to Us”.

They told the convener that the protest would continue unless the issue was addressed.

Protesters demanded action against Raheel Kaimkhani who, they said, with others forcibly sent them out of the council hall on June 21.

They accused the district nazim of by passing the council and this matter should also be decided. “Our protest would continue unless the members responsible for manhandling are taken to task,” they told journalists.

The convener requesting them that he would take action as per provisions of the Sindh Local Government Ordinance (SLGO) 2001. “Let us decide the matter through dialogue because everything is defined in the SLGO,” he said.

However, the protesting members called off their hunger strike on the request of Sindh Democratic Forum (SDF) secretary Ibrar Kazi and its other members.

Later, presiding over the session, the convenor regretted that if the members remained confined to the SLGO provisions, no unpleasant incident would take place because everyone was allowed to express his opinion in session.

He said there were differences among members, but it was incorrect to give them an ethnic colour and added that no one in the council believed in ethnicity. “All of us are Sindhis. Grievances are redressed through talks and we must jointly work for the welfare of the province.”