DADU, March 25: A large number of people belonging to Mallah community staged a protest demonstration under the banner of the Sindh Taraqqi- Pasand Mallah Tanzeem outside the press club here on Sunday. They were protesting against an attack on Mallah boatmen in Daulatpur, Nawabshah.

Speaking on the occasion, the district office-bearers of the boatmen’s organisation said that some people belonging to the Dahri community fired upon a boat when boatman Wahid Mallah refused to sail back to the Indus bank to take them across the river. As a result, they said, a passenger was injured and a frightened boy, Waseem, jumped into the river. They said that he was missing since then and expressed the fear that he might have drowned.

Mohammad Amin Mallah, Haji Anwar Mallah and others said that instead of taking action against those involved in the firing incident, the Daulatpur police had arrested 20 boatmen after registering an FIR against 80 people for blocking the National Highway during a protest demonstration against the incident.

They alleged that the police was protecting the accused as they were backed by some influential persons. They called upon the Sindh police chief to suspend the Qazi Ahmed TPO and the Daulatpur SHO and ensure action against the accused.