KHAIRPUR, Jan 14: Murdered journalist Makhdoom Rafique Hashmi was buried in his family graveyard near the shrine of Shaheed Makhdoom Abdul Rehman in Khohra town, Gambat taluka, on Sunday.

A large number of journalists, political workers and local people attended the burial.

Later, more than 200 people, including relatives of the deceased, led by Khohra union council nazim Makhdoom Nadeem, took out a procession on tractor trolleys, pick-ups and other vehicles up to Gambat bypass. There they staged a sit-in for two hours, suspending vehicular traffic.

The protesters were demanding arrest of the killers of Mr Rafique, chief editor of a local daily.Speaking on the occasion, Mr Nadeem, Nisar Abro of the Shehri Ittehad, Shabbir Jafri and others said that the police had failed to arrest the real culprits and they had made some arrests only as a formality.

They said that the murder was purely a criminal act, but some people who were trying to give it a different colour would not succeed.

Later, Gambat Taluka Nazim Syed Sarkar Hussain Shah and police officials held talks with the protesters and assured them that the accused would be arrested soon, after which the protesters called off the protest.

They warned of observing protest again if the real culprits were not arrested in three days.

No FIR has been registered till the filing of this report.