MIRPURKHAS, Dec 27: Members of the Mirpurkhas District Council on Monday demanded that President Gen Pervez Musharraf should reinstate district nazims and naib nazims removed by the Sindh government.

The demand was made by members at an informal meeting held at the lawn of the district council. Mir Anwar Talpur presided over the meeting which was attended by 46 members.

A heavy contingent of police, led by TPO Irshad Rajput, had cordoned off the district council building and restrained members from entering the council hall. The meeting also condemned the killing of four people in Qambar and offered Fateha for the deceased.

Iftikhar Arain, Ghulam Akbar Dars, Mian Saleem and Mohammad Umer Bughio strongly condemned the dismissal of four district nazims and naib nazims and termed the action illegal.

Rahim Bux Makrani and Zulfiqar Junejo called for extending the tenure of the present union council representatives. Hazrat Ali Shah, Najma Lashari, Umer Bughio, Shahnaz Bano, Shamim, Lal Malhi and Malik Liaquat said a protest campaign would be launched in the province if the dismissed nazims and naib nazims were not reinstated.

Later, the members took out a procession from the council building which culminated outside the office of the DCO. They met DCO Mohammad Siddiq Memon and recorded their protest on the closure of the council hall and deployment of police. Talking to the members and journalists, the DCO said the government had delegated powers of the district nazim and naib nazim to him following their dismissal.

He further said on a request of the members he had sought opinion of law and local bodies departments on the issue and, therefore, he had not convened the council's meeting for want of legal advice. He said he would convene the meeting after getting the advice. He said he had also imposed section 144 Cr.PC for maintaining law and order.