HYDERABAD, March 1: The relatives of the imprisoned leaders of Jeay Sindh Muttahida Mahaz (JSMM) and party activists staged a demonstration outside the press club on Thursday to protest against in-camera trial of JSMM leaders Sattar Hakro, Muzaffar Bhutto, Asghar Shah, Sikandar Soomro, Nawaz Khan Zounr and others.

Speaking on the occasion, Saima Bhutto, wife of Mr Bhutto, said that the holding of trial of the JSMM leaders in the jail was illegal and unjustified. She alleged that the party leaders were being tortured in the prison.

Shahnawaz Bhutto, Ali Deshi and others appealed to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan and the nationalist leaders to raise voice against the excesses on the JSMM leaders.

They said that the whereabouts of Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz general secretary Dr Safdar Sarki, Akash Mallah, Asif Baladi and others, missing after being picked up by intelligence agencies, should be made public.

SST: A group of the activists of the Sindhi Shagird Tehrik, student wing of the Awami Tehrik, observed token hunger strike outside the Hyderabad press club on Thursday to protest against what they called the increasing incidents of terrorism in educational institutions of Sindh.

They carried placards and banners inscribed with different slogans. Speaking on the occasion, SST leaders Javed Larik, Javed Bhatti, Rehman Dahiri, Ghaffar Malik and others said that educational institutions of Sindh were being held hostages by criminal mafia.

They said that these elements in the presence of police had destroyed educational atmosphere and were openly engaged in extortion, robberies, kidnappings of female students and other criminal activities.

They held the administration of educational institutions, the provincial minister for education and the chancellor of the universities responsible for the prevailing state of affairs.

They criticized the silence of the writers, intellectuals and the conscientious people of Sindh over the grave issue and urged them to take notice of the conspiracy to destroy the educational atmosphere of Sindh.

CERTIFICATES: The vice-chancellor of the Sindh University on Wednesday distributed certificates among 300 students on the completion of one- year training in Database Application.