KARACHI, April 27: A large number of opposition members in the city council along with their party supporters assembled outside the council’s building on M.A. Jinnah Road after Friday prayers to condemn the incident of violence that took place in the house on Thursday.

Holding party flags and portraits of the party chairperson, PPP workers, women activists and trade union leaders started converging on M.A. Jinnah Road in front of the council’s main gate at 3pm to join the rally. Police were deployed to prevent any untoward incident.

Condemning what they described as ‘acts of terrorism’ at democratic forums, they raised anti-MQM slogans and staged a sit-in on the road. As a result, traffic remained blocked for some time. Some PPP activists tried to cross the iron gate of the building but were restrained from doing so by some senior party leaders.

The participants of the rally were later addressed by PPP leaders and opposition group leaders in the city council.

Senator Taj Haider condemned the acts of violence against opposition leaders in the city council, saying that earlier the terrorists targeted individuals but now they were targeting the democratic forums. He said the struggle for democracy was on a turning point and it was not possible now to stop the people’s movement by using coercive methods.

Referring to the killings of Abdullah Murad Baloch, Munawar Suharwardi, Aslam Mujahid and Mufti Nizamuddin Shamzai during the last four years, the party leaders described the Thursday incident in the City Council as an act of terrorism.

Earlier, the rally was addressed by opposition leaders in the city council Saeed Ghani and Rafiq Ahmed. They recalled how the opposition members were targeted in the city council session. However, they made it clear that opposition members would not succumb to such pressures and would continue to expose the brutal acts of the rulers.

“Karachi is not a city of one particular group; it belongs to all those who love this city,” they said and pledged that the struggle for the protection of their rights would continue.

In a separate statement, PPP Sindh Information Secretary, women wing, MPA Shazia Marri condemned the “brutal behaviour” of the city council members who manhandled opposition members. She particularly took exception to the atrocity committed by a treasury member who hit his female colleague with a belt.