DADU, May 18: A large number of shopkeepers and residents of Mehar, Radhan and Khairpur Nathan Shah took to the streets in Mehar on Monday to protest against the Evacuee Property Trust plan of auctioning hundreds of properties.

Traders closed their shops, marched on main roads of Mehar, burnt tyres there and held a protest demonstrations outside the police station, Mukhtiarkar office and on Betto-Mehar road.

The protesters also held a five-member trust team hostage in the Mukhtiarkar office for five hours, which had come there to sell the properties through auction. Their leaders told journalists that officials of the trust had issued notices to occupants of over 1,000 shops and 300 houses for vacating their properties and participating in their auction if they wanted to do so.

They said that the people were living on the properties since the pre-Partition days and claimed that the properties belonged to them. They warning that they would not allow the trust to sell the properties.

They further said that DCO Alam Din Bullo had written to high officials of the Evacuee Property Trust to stop the auction till the formulation of a new policy on the properties but they did not consider the suggestion.

Later, the protesters observed a token hunger strike. On that occasion, the team leader of trust, Farhat Aziz, and TPO Mohammad Aslam Rajput negotiated with the protesters.

They assured the protesters that after consulting with the authorities concerned in Islamabad, they had cancelled the auction date. Later the protesters dispersed in a peaceful way.

SHOT DEAD: A youth, Mohammad Ali Khoso, was shot dead over an old enmity in Murad Khoso village, Mehar taluka, on Monday. Mr Khoso was returning from Karachi when he was attacked by four armed men.