HYDERABAD, Sept 7: A large number of Hindu community members, including women and children, demonstrated outside the press club on Friday in protest against the abduction of a 14-year-old girl.

Dr Jagdesh Kumar, Photo and Mansingh who led the protest alleged that Sunny, daughter of Rupa, was snatched from her home in Gulshan-i-Khair Mohammad on Sept 5 by Raju Shaikh.

They said that they had lodged an FIR against Raju at the Ghangra Mori police station but police had not yet made any arrest. Raju lived in Gujrati Para and worked at a private factory as a labourer, they said.

They said the girl was underage and warned if she was not recovered soon their community would broaden the protest.

They appealed to the authorities concerned and the DIG of Hyderabad police to recover the girl and take action against the abductor. Hindus were being forced to leave and their girls were being abducted to convert forcibly in the name of marriages, they said.

They urged the government to provide protection to Hindus and protect them from those who did not like to see followers of other religions in Pakistan.

SUKKUR: Activists of the Pakistan People’s Party (Shaheed Bhutto) took out a rally and observed a token hunger strike for two hours outside the Jacobabad Press Club on Friday in protest against the government’s failure to protect the Hindu community in the province. They also condemned the government for failing to arrest the killers of their leader, Mir Murtaza Bhutto.

The rally was led by PPP-SB district chief Syed Aslam Shah, Nadeem Qureshi, Haji Ahmed Ali Khoso, Abdul Latif Pechuho and Mehmooda Sikander. The protesters held a demonstration in front of the press club and raised slogans against the government.

Speaking to the protesters, the PPP-SB leaders claimed that under a conspiracy the Hindu community in Sindh was being targeted by kidnappers, robbers and killers. Hindu girls were being kidnapped and forced to convert, they alleged.

They appealed to the Hindu community not to quit their motherland and counter these elements along with their Muslim countrymen.

They urged the government to look into the problems being faced by the affected Hindu families and maintain law and order by checking the anti-social elements and providing safety, security and protection to all minorities living in Sindh. They also called for protection to traders and businessmen, especially those belonging to the Hindu community against kidnappers and extortionists.

They also called for immediate arrest of Mir Murtaza Bhutto’s killers and strongly criticised the Sindh government for its failure to make any headway in this regard over the past many years.