QUETTA, Jan 11: Police arrested dozens of activists of the Sibi Muttahida Mahaz (SMM) and two MPAs of the Pukhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party for demanding the restoration of the old status of Sibi by separating Lehri tehsil from it.

Reports said that the business community of Sibi observed a complete shutter-down strike on Tuesday on the call of the SMM. Chief Minister Jam Yousuf was also in the town to open the week-long Sibi festival.

The police rounded up MPAs Abdur Rahim Ziaratwal and Sardar Azam Musakhel, former minister Obaidullah Babat, SMM chief Fateh Khan Khajak, Dr Allah Dad Luni, Mohammad Sadiq of the PPP and other dozens of supporters of the Mahaz.

An official of the Saddar police station confirmed the arrests but expressed his inability to give the exact number, for he said that they were detained in two police stations.

PMAP spokesman Nasrullah Zehri told Dawn on telephone that the law-enforcement agency had arrested 150 workers of the SMM. He claimed that the workers had not violated law because neither any public meeting was held nor had they resorted to violence to impose the strike.