SANGHAR, Oct 6: A complete strike was observed in Khipro town on Wednesday on a call given by the Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz (A) in protest against an incident in which a group of young men allegedly subjected a girl to gang-rape, filmed her and posted it on the Internet. The protesters marched in the streets of the town which wore a deserted look with all shops and markets closed. They burnt tyres on the roads and staged a sit-in at Shaheed Chowk.

Some gunshots were fired from Kaimkhani Mohalla to prevent the protesters from entering the locality. The protesters then gathered outside the Khipro police station and demanded arrest of three sisters, Nayab, Farasat and Tahreem, who were nominated as accused in an FIR lodged by the rape victim's family.

The girls' brother Danish and his friends Jehanzeb, Waseem and Sohail Kaimkhani, who were also nominated as accused, have already been arrested. The girls have obtained an interim bail before arrest.

The rape victim's uncle stated in the FIR lodged on Oct 4 that his niece, a student of class XI, was invited by her class fellows Tehreen, Nayab and Farasat to come to Khalid Kaimkhani's house where she was given sweets mixed with sedatives.

As she fell unconscious and Jahanzeb, Waseem, Danish and Sohail subjected her to criminal assault, filmed her through a cell phone camera and posted it on the Internet, he said.

Ms Amar Sindhu and Ms Irfana Mallah of the Woman Action Forum also met the parents of the victim girl in Khipro and said the forum would provide moral and legal support to the victim.

Ms Sindhu saidthat a criminal should not be judged on the basis of gender because a criminal is a criminal whatever the gender.

She said that the forum would try to get the case transferred from Khipro to Karachi to save the victim's family from pressure and humiliation.

Meanwhile, Khalid Kaimkhani, father of the accused girls and their brother Danish said at a press conference that they were ready to face investigation and if the accused were found guilty they should be punished accordingly.

He, however, added that one of his daughters was medical student and was attending classes when the incident took place. Her second daughter was married and was at her in-laws' house and his third daughter was at school at that time.