UMERKOT: Political situation in some localities of Umerkot grew tense on Tuesday when Pakistan Peoples Party and Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf activists came to blows over the issue of the killing of two brothers in the city last weekend.

Ashok Kumar Malhi and Heera Lal Malhi, who were returning home on a motorcycle, were shot dead by some robbers near Teen Talwar Chowk when they offered resistance. They were stated to be carrying a big amount of money.

The Hindu community of the area has since been protesting against what it believed was the latest in a series of incidents of heinous crime targeting its members.

On Tuesday, PPP workers took out a rally against PTI MNA Lal Malhi’s remarks in the National Assembly against Sindh Minister Syed Ali Mardan Shah.

As the participants passed by a camp where local PTI leaders and workers, along with some nationalist activists, were observing a token hunger strike in their continuing protest over alleged harassment of Hindu community members, someone passed provocative remarks which sparked a fist fight between a few PPP and PTI workers.

Markets and shops in many areas of the city were closed for fear of a flare-up amid political tension. However, the tension subsided when leaders of both sides managed to avert a bigger clash.

Lekhraj Malhi, brother of MNA Lal Malhi, told a press conference that some PPP workers attacked PTI activists and supporters sitting in the camp. The attackers tore off the pamphlets and placards they were holding but the policemen present there did not move to stop them, he alleged.

Local PPP activists leading the rally in Umerkot alleged that the activists sitting in the camp cursed them when their rally passed by.

MNA Lal Malhi, speaking to Dawn on Tuesday, said what he had stated in the National Assembly was the truth and not insulting remarks.

Published in Dawn, August 6th, 2014