HYDERABAD, Oct 7: A large number of people of Matiari town, under the banner of Matiari Samaji Ittehad, a conglomerate of 22 political, religious and social welfare organizations, staged a token hunger strike outside the local press club on Tuesday.

They were protesting against the shifting of the old bus terminal and alleged excesses of the motorway authorities, and were demanding the removal of the Taluka police officer, Matiari.

Talking to journalists, Ittehad leaders, Akhund Javed Akhtar, Syed Mumtaz Shah, Shaukat Abro and others, said the shifting of the old bus terminal to a new place was not justified as it was creating great hardships, specially for women passengers.

Accusing the TPO of Matiari of a partisan attitude, they demanded his removal and warned that if their demands were not met, they would enlarge the scope of their protest.

They further demanded the restoration of the old bus terminal without delay.

SHC PROTEST: A number of activists of the Sindh Hari Committee continued their token hunger strike outside the Hyderabad Press Club for the second consecutive day on Tuesday.

They were protesting against the artificial water shortage in the Khachar Shakh in the Tando Mohammad Khan irrigation sub-division and the rotation programme.

Talking to journalists, SHC senior vice president Comrade Mohammad Usman Leghari said that due to the inefficiency of the irrigation engineers, water was not being released in the Khachar canal, resulting in destruction of their crops.

They further said that there was no legible reason to resort to the rotation programme.

The protesters warned that if the growers were not supplied water by Oct 10, they would be compelled to continue the hunger strike till death.

COMPUTER FEE: A group of students belonging to the Jeay Sindh Students Federation held a protest demonstration and hunger strike outside the Hyderabad Press Club on Tuesday.

They were demanding refund of the computer fee of first and second year students, removal of the principal of the Degree College, Tando Mohammad Khan, and the controller of examinations, Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education, Hyderabad.

JSSF district president Mushtaq Soomro and others said the computer fee had not been refunded as yet even though it had been withdrawn by the Sindh government.

They claimed that more than 150,000 male and female students had deposited the fee which amounted to tens of millions of rupees.

They warned that if their demands were not met, the hunger strike would continue to its logical conclusion.