NAWABSHAH, Oct 1: A man was killed and three others were wounded when police tried to disperse a rally taken out against the Sindh Local Government Ordinance, 2012 after a sit-in on Sakrand Road on Monday.

The protest turned violent after the police action and the protesters went on the rampage. They attacked public properties and set the Airport police station on fire.

The trouble started when a large number of activists belonging to the Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz (JSQM) and several other nationalist parties, after holding a protest demonstration and a sit-in on Sakrand Road, tried to take out a procession. Police intervened to disperse them but protesters continued to head towards the local press club chanting slogans against the government and its allies. Police lobbed teargas shells and then fired blank shots to control the situation but the protesters pelted police vehicles with stones. The police said that some armed protesters also attacked the police with firearms.

Four activists, Hanif Khaskheli, Mumtaz Mallah, Jawad Ahmed and Waseem Parhyar, received bullet injuries during the clash and were taken to the PMC Hospital, where Mr Khaskheli succumbed to his wounds. Some policemen also sustained minor injuries during the violence.

Soon after the clash, enraged protesters attacked the Airport police station and forced the DSP City and other police personnel to flee the area. Rangers personnel deployed in the area also drove away, leaving behind only three police officers, including the SHO, at the Airport police station.

The police officers continued to fire teargas shells and live bullets to disperse the protesters but they ran short of ammunition. The angry mob then set the police station on fire.

The police station, along with its furniture and record, was reduced to ashes while three motorcycles parked nearby also gutted.

Tension gripped the area till late in the night though police reinforcement was sent to the troubled localities. The Rangers had also returned to their areas of deployment, including PMC Chowk and Sakrand Road, when last reports came in. The road, however, remained closed to traffic as several localities along it kept reverberating with gunfire sound.

JSQM condemns police action A JSQM leader, Sarfaraz Memon, condemned the police action against ‘peaceful protesters’ and said that the police tried to stop them from holding a rally. He claimed that a majority of protesters were supporters of the Pakistan People’s Party but police were ordered not to allow them to hold any kind of protest.

He also claimed that the protest turned violence when police resorted to shelling and firing, leaving one protester dead and three others wounded. He said that the deceased was an activist of his party.

He alleged that some Muttahida Qaumi Movement activists also attacked protesters with firearms at Daulatpur and when the protesters tried to lodge an FIR at the local police station, a special assistant to the chief minister stopped the police from registering the case.

Meanwhile, a complete shutterdown was observed in Nawabshah (Shaheed Benazirabad) district with all main markets and bazaars, including Sarafa Bazaar, Mohni Bazaar, Liaquat Market, Masjid Road, Hospital Road, Sakrand Road, Marium Road, Hussaini Road, Jam Sahab Road, Camp No 2, Qazi Ahmed Road and other commercial centres remaining closed.

A strike was also observed in Daulatpur, Sakrand, Daur, Bandhi, Jam Sahab, Bucheri and other towns of the district.

Public and private transport vehicles were off the road and no private educational institution opened on Monday morning.