KARACHI, April 28: The Sunni Tehrik (ST) has claimed that Sindh home minister had been holding police hostage, and alleged that while activists of his party were indulged in target killings and terrorism, police were not being allowed to discharge their duty of taking law-breakers to task.

Addressing a press conference here on Thursday, ST Chief Maulana Iftikhar Bhatti condemned target killing of some ST workers and demanded arrest of the killers.

He accused the provincial home minister’s party colleagues of killing the activists and urged the federal and provincial governments, as well as sensitive agencies and human rights organizations, to take notice of the situation. He demanded that police be “freed from the clutches of the major coalition partner in Sindh so that they could take appropriate action against the killers and their patrons.”

Giving details of the incidents in which the ST workers were killed recently, Maulana Bhatti lamented that instead of establishing writ of law by registering FIRs against killers and arresting them, police had become instrumental in implicating ST workers in false cases.

In some areas, he claimed, target killings were being carried out under the supervision of some police officers. He demanded posting of neutral SHOs and TPOs in the city and said that crime dens should be eliminated not only from Lyari, but also from other parts of the city.

Maintaining that the ST was a religio-political party representing Ahle Sunnat, he said it had no grudge against any other party. However, he added, owing to rising graph of ST’s popularity, a conspiracy was being hatched to block its way.

He deplored that ulema doctors and scholars belonging to the ST were falling victim to target killing. In this regard, he recalled that Dr Amjad Ghauri had been killed on April 26 and Mohammad Tahir on April 17 this year. Earlier, he added, Ashfaq Qadri had been killed on July 8 in Baldia Town, Kamran Qadri, Khalid Qadri and Shahabuddin on November 9 in Shah Faisal, Allama Adnan Qadri on Dec 15 in Gulshan-i-Jamal and Anis Qadri on Dec 24 in Lyari.

Police, instead of arresting those nominated in the FIRs pertaining to the killings, were implicating ST workers in false cases. “Our workers are being arrested on false allegations and subjected to torture by police,” he said.

Maulana Bhatti urged leaders of Ahle Sunnat and their followers to raise their voice against the oppressors and force the government to move against them.