MUZAFFARABAD, Feb 20: Hundreds of people from different walks of life staged a token hunger strike for more than six hours here on Tuesday in the first phase of their peaceful protest programme against official plans to relocate government offices away from the existing municipal limits of the quake-hit Azad Jammu and Kashmir capital.

The hunger-strikers who included AJK legislative assembly members, former ministers, political workers, lawyers, students and traders assembled along the bustling main road outside the old civil secretariat premises under the aegis of the "Save Capital Movement" at 10am and dispersed at about 4:30pm.

Heavy contingents of riot police were deployed around the area to meet any eventuality as only 500 yards away AJK Prime Minister Sardar Attique Ahmed Khan was chairing a district development review meeting in a hotel for the second consecutive day.

However, the protesters, many of whom delivered fiery speeches condemning the official plans, remained peaceful throughout the strike and even allowed vehicles to drive past them. Wearing black armbands and waving black flags, they kept on shouting slogans against the relocation plans and the AJK rulers.

“Stop dividing the people and pitching brother against brother," read one of the several banners displayed on the occasion. Another one said: "Muzaffarabad will stay in Muzaffarabad."

The speakers urged President Gen Pervez Musharraf to "rein in" the AJK rulers who they alleged were sowing the seeds of hatred and creating unrest in the state.

Those at the helm of affairs in Islamabad must take stock of the moves of the present AJK regime which is bent to create anarchy at a time which strongly warrants a peaceful atmosphere, they said.