QUETTA, Jan 20: The People's Party Parliamentarians and the Pukhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party on Wednesday staged a demonstration at the press club in support of the demand for separation of Lehri tehsil from Sibi.

A heavy contingent of police surrounded the PMAP and did not allow people Gather there as the local administration was reluctant to permit the process to pass through the city's main market. Later, after negotiations, the protesters marched on the Jinah Road and the Shara-i-Adalat.

The protesters holding placards and banners chanted slogans against the government and demanded the release of 250 activists of the Sibi Muttahida Mahaz who had been detained during a demonstration at the Sibi Festival.

MPA Abdur Rahim Ziaratwal and Usman Kakar of the PMAP, Syed Sadullah Shah and Ali Madad Jatak of the PPP, Yar Mohammad Bungulzai and Muhammad Jan Rind of the Mahaz and the president of the Anjuman-i-Tajiran spoke at the demonstration.

They asserted that Lehri was not a part of Sibi when former governor Amirul Mulk Mengal abolished four districts but when the current provincial government cancelled the action on the directives of former prime minister Mir Zafarullah Jamali, it was included in Sibi district. They said the Mahaz had launched a protest movement during the Sibi festival but the government arrested its 250 activists.