THATTA, Sept 2: Enraged commuters blocked the National Highway by burning tyres and staging a sit-in after some armed men opened fire on them at Dhabeji market bus stop killing a man and injuring four others on Sunday.

Led by Pakistan People’s Party’s MPA Humera Alwani the protesters raised slogans against police and accused them of being involved in the firing.

The situation became explosive when the TPO Gul Abbas who rushed to area threatened the protesters with dire consequences if they did not remove the body from the highway and open traffic.

He dismissed the MPA’s request to arrest one of the culprits who was still hiding in a nearby house but later gave in and arrested one Qadir Khuhro to pacify the enraged protesters who then lifted the blockade.

Three armed men came out of a car at Dhabeji market bus stop and one of them opened indiscriminate firing on the waiting commuters killing Abdul Karim Jokhio from Larkana and injuring Sher Mohammad Khuhro, Sajid Panhwar, Ghulam Rasool Memon and an eight-year-old Farooq Ahmed.

Ms Alwani charged that police could never act without getting instructions from their masters, the ruling PML-Q politicians of the area. She would raise the issue in the assembly, she said.

The murder is said to be an offshoot of an old enmity between two communities.

MARCH: Activists of Chato Chand Bachayo Action Committee supported by Awami Tehrik, SNP, PPP and Pasban organisations, staged a march, which started from Chato Chand settlement on the outskirts of the Thatta and terminated at the press club on Sunday.