HYDERABAD, June 6: The activists of the PPP, People’s Youth and SPSF held a token hunger strike outside the Hyderabad Press Club here on Friday to press the government for the withdrawal of false cases against Benazir Bhutto, release of her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, and against the construction of the greater Thal canal and LFO.
MMA leaders, senator Prof Abdul Ghafoor Ahmed, Maulana Abdul Waheed Qureshi, Shaikh Shaukat, and others also observed token hunger strike to express solidarity with PPP activists. Former Sindh chief minister and MPA Syed Qaim Ali Shah, MPA Zahid Bhurgari and MPA Farheen Mughal also joined the hunger strikers.
Later, while talking to newsmen, Syed Qaim Ali Shah said that the present crisis and uncertain conditions were the creation of the rulers.
He said if the LFO was not repealed, democracy in Pakistan will become a misnomer.
He said the 1973 Constitution had been unanimously adopted and no single individual had the authority to amend the Constitution.
He said the powers that President Gen Pervez Musharraf had arrogated to himself were not being enjoyed even by the American President.
He warned that the LFO was extremely dangerous for democracy and the solidarity of Pakistan, and added that if any political party accepted the LFO, it would cease to exist.
Mr Shah said that although massive rigging had taken place in the general elections, nevertheless the PPP wanted to see the democratic process and the assemblies in place.
He, however, said that the assemblies should be independent and they should not be made to accept any dictation.
He said unnecessary hurdles were being placed in the way of Benazir Bhutto, and added that her presence at this critical juncture was extremely necessary.
Similarly, he said, the return of Nawaz Sharif to Pakistan was also equally necessary.
Demanding the immediate release of Asif Zardari, he said that he had the inherent right to take part in politics.
He severely criticized the construction of the greater Thal canal saying that it was extremely harmful for Sindh, and added that it was the principled stand of his party that no province should be deprived of its rights.
POLICE ACCUSED: A woman has accused the Qasimabad police and her relatives of harassing her and threatened if justice was not restored to her, she with her children will commit self-immolation outside the Hyderabad Press Club.
The woman, Amirzadi, was speaking at a news conference at the press club on Wednesday.
The woman alleged that her relatives, Budhal Shah, Mohammad Ali Shah, Ghafoor Shah and Peeral Shah, their henchmen and the SHO of Qasimabad trespassed into her house last Friday in her absence, ransacked the house and took away ornaments and cash.
She said when she went to the Qasimabad police station, SHO Dost Mohammad Mangrio, told her that an FIR had been registered against her husband who should be produced. She alleged the SHO misbehaved with her.