KARACHI, April 30: The central executive and federal council of the Pakistan People’s Party would next week decide the future course of action against the alleged violation of fundamental human rights of PPP activists and the inhuman treatment meted out to them by Punjab police on the occasion of Asif Ali Zardari’s return from Dubai on April 16.

This was stated by senior PPP leader Syed Qaim Ali Shah while addressing a press conference at Bilawal House here on Saturday.

He said that the PPP would hold a demonstration outside the Karachi Press club on Monday (May 2) to protest against the police atrocities.

He said that more than 200 party activists, arrested while they were on their way to Lahore, had not been released yet.

He accused the Punjab government of creating hurdles in getting the workers released on bail.

Till today, they have not been produced in any court although, the authorities were bound under the law to do so within 24 hours of the arrest of any individual, he deplored.

Mr Shah was also critical of the attitude of the courts in granting bail to PPP activists. He deplored the government for implicating the political activists in cases of terrorism, and observed that this appeared reflective of the regime’s anti-democracy mindset.

Flanked by the party’s provincial secretary general Nafees Siddiqui, information secretary Dr Fahmida Mirza, Manzoor Wassan, N. D. Khan, Waqar Mehdi and others, Mr Shah appealed to all progressive ad democracy-loving forces in the opposition to join hands with the PPP for confronting the ‘dictatorial’ regime.

Syed Qaim Ali Shah said despite making tall claims of pursuing democracy, the Punjab government was not allowing PPP to hold its meeting within the four walls and subjecting its activists to baton-charge and humiliation.

“It seems that the regime is planning a crackdown on PPP workers in Karachi,” he said.