SUKKUR: Civil society activists in Sukkur city on Tuesday held a demonstration and, as a token of protest, torched an effigy of a ‘ration thief’ at Mehran Valley, a recreational spot on Indus riverbank.

Speaking to local reporters, Ashfaq Bhatti, Waqar Ali Soomro, Abdul Hameed Shaikh and others who led the demonstration, said that not a single deserving family in their localities could get the ration, being distributed by government officials and PPP activists since the lockdown was tightened several weeks ago.

They said vehicles laden with ration bags did arrive in the identified localities but unscrupulous elements would either get it from distributing workers or snatch it from beneficiaries.

The made an impassioned appeal to the authorities concerned to have mercy on the people who along with their children were facing starvation.

They strongly contested claims by Sukkur Mayor Arsalan Islam Shaikh and several provincial ministers that ration bags were distributed among 90,000 families in Sukkur and its surrounding areas.

Published in Dawn, April 29th, 2020