KARACHI, Aug 31: The Sindh chapter of the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy (ARD) has condemned the killing of Nawab Akbar Bugti in a military operation in Kohlu on Saturday, and appealed to masses to join in the strike on Friday to register their protest.

A meeting held under the chairmanship of ARD Sindh President Zain Ansari here on Thursday said that the government led by Gen Pervez Musharraf had endangering the country’s integrity.

The meeting was attended by PPP’s Sindh President Syed Qaim Ali Shah, Secretary General Nafees Siddiqui, city chief Rashid Rabbani and MPA Rafique Engineer; as well as other leaders, including Basharat Mirza (PDP), Khawaja Mohammad Awan, Habibuddin Junaidi, Syed Azhar Abbas Zaidi, Tariq Khan, Waqar Mehdi and others.

Through several resolutions adopted at the meeting, the government was accused of physically eliminating political opponents, and declared that Gen Musharraf’s policies had become dangerous to the federation of Pakistan.

The meeting declared Nawab Bugti as a patriot political leader, and paid tributes to his services for Balochistan. It warned the rulers against playing with the solidarity of the country, and asked them to find a peaceful solution to the Balochistan issue through dialogues. It demanded handing over of Nawab Bugti’s remains to his heirs for burial.

The meeting also condemned the arrests of those staging protest in Lyari, Malir, Old Golimar and other parts of the city against the JWP leader’s killing. They demanded immediate release of all protesters and withdrawal of cases registered against them.

The ARD meeting condemned the alleged attack on PPP and ANP workers by activists of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement during the recent by-election in UC-1, Muzaffarabad, Landhi, on August 26. It charged that MQM had committed rigging in the by-election, and demanded it to be declared null and void.

Later, the meeting offered fateha for Nawab Akbar Bugti.