THATTA, Feb 3: Pakistan People’s Party leader Sassui Palijo on Sunday demanded replacement of the DCO and entire district police set-up and measures for making the district nazim and his team neutral on Feb 9, when PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari would address a public meeting in the city.

Ms Palijo said at a press conference here that the measures were needed to ensure foolproof security during Zardari’s first public appearance since Benazir Bhutto’s tragic death on Dec 27.

She said that there were fears about a possibility of sabotage during the public meeting, which would officially kick off the party’s election campaign, and said the event required extra security also because it would be focus of international attention.

“No doubt hidden hands, officials, agencies, terrorists, extremists and vested interests played a part during such events,” and the interior minister should act to avert terrorist threats in the district, she added.

She alleged that the DCO, the DPO and other government departments had always supported PPP’s rivals Shirazis in the district, who patronised bandits and gangsters of Moolchand and Khadi forests of the district.

She accused DIG Shaukat Shah, SP investigation Shaukat Shahani, DCO Usman Panhwar, DPO Dawood Junejo and a number of other officials of playing in the hands of the district nazim.

The Friday incident provided its proof when SP investigation Shaukat Shahani publicly thrashed an octogenarian PPP activist, Karmoon, when he tried to complain to him about being implicated in false cases, she said.

Shahani was the official who had faced an inquiry for manhandling foreign scholar Florence who had sought his help to get back her stolen baggage but the DIG who inducted the inquiry saved him, she said.

Ms Palijo advised the personnel of intelligence agencies ‘not to play in the hands of dictatorial system and keep in mind that the governance by the poor and the downtrodden masses was not far away.’

She demanded security for the leaders and participants of the public meeting, who would pour into the city in their thousands to express their love and solidarity with Benazir Bhutto and the legacy of the Bhutto family.

“We will prove ourselves to be true democrats, peace-lovers and firm believers in avenging Ms Bhutto’s death through democratic and civilised means,” she said.