NAWABSHAH, March 29: Hundreds of residents of Sakrand town took out a rally and staged a demonstration at Sahafi Chowk against the kidnapping of a Hindu businessman and his friend here on Thursday. The protest call was given by Shehri Ittehad, Sakrand.

The rally ended at Sahafi Chowk after parading on different thoroughfares of the town. The protesters, including members of Hindu community, carried placards, wore black armbands and raised slogans for early recovery of Ashok Kumar and Saleem Solangi.

Speaking on the occasion, President of the Shehri Ittehad, Mohammad Yousuf Memon, Dr Kewal Ram (brother of kidnapped trader), Hafeez Buriro, Mohammed Siddique Mangio, Ghulam Shah Leghari of PPP and others, said that two days have passed and police were still clueless about the kidnapees.

They said that the incident had sent a wave of shock among the citizen, particularly Hindu community.

They warned that if Ashok Kumar and Saleem Solangi were not recovered within three days, they would give a call for a shutter down.

Meanwhile, a meeting of Hindu Panchayat was held in Sakrand on Wednesday night, which was presided over by Mukhi Roop Chand. The members, including Govind Ram, Dr Prem Chand and Dr Kewal Ram, expressed dissatisfaction over the deteriorated law and order conditions.

They said that so far a number of Hindu community businessmen and doctors were kidnapped from various parts of Sindh.

They demanded of the Sindh chief minister and other concerned officials to intervene and direct quick recovery of Ashok Kumar and Saleem Solangi.

It may be recalled that Ashok Kumar and Saleem Solangi were kidnapped by four armed men near Khaddar on Tuesday night while they were returning to Sakrand after closing their business in Wer stop.

The DPO of Nawabshah, Dr Ghulam Sarwar Jamali, told Dawn that police were conducting raids for the recovery of the kidnapees. He said that police have picked up over a dozen suspects in this connection and hoped early recovery of the kidnapped men.

TEN BOOKED: Ten people were booked on charges of encroaching upon forest land on Thursday. Range Forest officer Abdul Fateh Khoso, lodged an FIR at Mari Jalbani police station accusing Miandad, Sahib, Ibrahim, Ahmed, Soomar, Pehalwan, Dhani Bux, Haji Hyder, Ismail and Mohammad Ali for of encroaching upon state land in Mari forests.