KARACHI, May 14: Chief of the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy, Sindh, Syed Qaim Ali Shah said here on Monday that masses observed a complete strike on Monday in response to the ARD’s call to protest against the Saturday bloodshed in Karachi.

Addressing a press conference here on Monday, he said the strike, which remained peaceful, virtually shut down Karachi and other major cities. It also remained effective in the interior of Sindh, he added.

Mr Shah, who was accompanied by other ARD leaders, including Zain Ansari and Salim Zia (PML-N), Basharat Mirza (PDP), Khan Amanuallah Khan, Rashid Rabbani and Rafiq Engineer, reaffirmed the resolve that the ARD’s struggle for the supremacy of law, establishment of an independent judiciary and restoration of democracy would continue.

He said the masses had rejected ‘politics of terror’ by observing a complete strike against the bloodshed on Saturday, adding: “we would in no way succumb to the terror tactics being played by the Musharraf government and its coalition partner, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement.”

He said that whatever had happened on May 12, was purely a demonstration of ‘terror power’ and not the ‘public power’ as claimed by Gen Musharraf. “What has been demonstrated today is the public power, and not what had been resorted to on Saturday,” he remarked, referring to Gen Musharraf’s statement during the May 12 rally in Islamabad.

He condemned that the general was appreciating the terrorists while they were showering bullets on innocent people.

The ARD leader said the people of Karachi and other parts of Sindh would have demonstrated the same power on Saturday had they been allowed free movement to receive the Chief Justice of Pakistan, Justice Iftikhar Mahmood Chaudhry at the airport.

However, he condemned, they were stopped and targeted by the terrorists who, he alleged, belonged to the MQM.

Terming the Saturday bloodshed ‘a carnage’, Mr Shah announced a three-day mourning starting Tuesday for the victims. He said lawyers were being consulted about lodging of FIRs of the attacks.

Regarding delegation of powers to the Rangers to shoot at sight, Syed Qaim Ali Shah, who is also Sindh chief of the PPP, said that the governor did not have the constitutional authority to delegate such powers to Rangers.

He maintained that it was the chief minister who possessed the authority. “But the chief minister of Sindh has been rendered powerless and is in hiding nowadays,” he remarked.

He also vehemently condemned the attempts being made to give the unrest in Karachi an ethnic colour. “Karachi is part of Sindh and nobody can snatch away Sindh from Sindhis,” he said, castigating those who were trying to divide the people of Sindh on ethnic grounds. He resolved to foil such elements’ nefarious designs.

He reiterated the ARD’s support to the lawyers’ ongoing struggle for the supremacy of judiciary, maintaining that without recognising the supremacy of law and attaining the independence of judiciary, people’s right could not be protected. “The lawyers’ struggle cannot be separated from the struggle for the democracy,” he declared.

The ARD leader also deplored the killing of additional registrar of the Supreme Court on Monday, and termed it ‘a target killing’. He held the government responsible for his murder.