HYDERABAD, Dec 23: Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz’s hunger strike outside the local press club continued on the fourth consecutive day here on Saturday. The party is protesting against the arrest and ‘enforced disappearance’ of nationalist leaders Dr Safdar Sarki, Akash Mallah and Asif Baladi and the inhuman treatment they were being reportedly subjected to in jails.

Prominent leftist leader Jam Saqi, Pakistan People’s Party (Shaheed Bhutto) leader Peeral Majidano, PPP leader Shamshad Memon and activists of several other parties visited the strikers’ camp and expressed their solidarity with JSQM.

Talking to reporters, JSQM leader Serai Qurban Khuhawar charged that said that the nationalist leaders who had been arrested and kept incommunicado for months were being subjected to torture and their lives were in danger.

He said that Asghar Shah, Munir Shah, Sattar Hakro and other leaders were languishing in jails, facing torture and denial of facilities permissible under jail manual. Mr Khuhawar demanded that the whereabouts of Dr Sarki, Mr Mallah and Mr Baladi should be disclosed and if they were wanted to police in any criminal case, they should be produced in courts. He urged the government to provide facilities permissible under jail manual to the imprisoned nationalist leaders and warned that the party continue protest till the government accepted its demands.

Our Shikarpur correspondent adds: Activists of Jeay Sindh Students Federation observed a token hunger strike at Lakhi Gate Tower Chowk on Saturday to protest against detention of Sindhi nationalists and discrimination against Sindhi students by Karachi University and other educational institutions of the Karachi.

Local JSSF leaders Majid Hyderi, Mansoor Noon and Niaz Jafri demanded enhancement in Sindhi students’ quota for admission to educational institutions in Karachi, reopening 200 closed schools in Shikarpur and release of Dr Safdar Sarki, Asif Baladi and other nationalist leaders and workers.