HYDERABAD, Nov 16: The activists of Sindh National Party (SNP) led by its chairman Dr Dodo Mehri staged token hunger strike outside the Hyderabad press club here on Friday.

They were protesting against the influx of Afghan refugees into Sindh, acute shortage of irrigation water, rampant unemployment and lawlessness including kidnappings, proposed transfer of several Dehs of Ghotki district to Punjab, usurpation of natural resources of Sindh by Punjab, privatization of educational institutions and imprisonment of political leaders.

Talking to newsmen Dr Mehri said following war between Afghanistan and USSR, tens of thousands of Afghan refugees had permanently settled in Sindh which had created innumerable economic, social and political problems.

He said these Afghan refugees were the root cause of lawlessness in the province.

He said millions of Afghan nationals were again heading towards Sindh and added the refugees should be repatriated to Afghanistan to restore permanent peace in Sindh.

He said without the repatriation of Afghan refugees, the process of broad based government in that country would remain incomplete.

The SNP leader pointed out that the other burning issue in Sindh was the acute shortage of water which was a matter of life and death for the overwhelming majority of the people who were directly or indirectly dependent on agriculture sector.

He said by withholding the waters of Sindh, the rulers were trying to destroy its agrarian economy and demanded that the water issue should be resolved according to international rules and Sindh should be provided its due share of water.

He also assailed the conspiracy to temper with the geography of Sindh and demanded a large number of Dehs of Ghotki district which were being transferred to Punjab should remain part of Sindh.

He also demanded the immediate release of nationalist leader Bashir Khan Qureshi and other political leaders including Asif Ali Zardari.