HYDERABAD, May 12: The components parties of the All-Party Democratic Alliance observed black day and held rallies and demonstrations across Sindh on Monday, in protest against government failure to nab perpetrators of May 12 Karachi killings.
In Hyderabad, Awami National Party held a commemorative meeting for the victims of May 12, in which the party’s general secretary Mohammad Amin Khattak made an address over telephone.
He said that the success of coalition parties in Feb 18 elections was largely due to sacrifices of people who were killed in Karachi on May 12 last year and warned the government against shaking hands with the dictator and compromising the blood of martyrs.
The party’s provincial vice-president Haji Asmatullah Mehsud said that May 12 was a black chapter in the country’s history and paid tributes to party workers, who lost lives on that day.
The Sindh Taraqqi Pasand Party (STP) staged a rally, which was led by Muzaffar Kalhoro, Sarang Unnar, Sachal Gopang and others. The rally terminated outside the press club.
Mr Kalhoro blamed Pervez Musharraf for May 12 bloodshed and said that the culprits were roaming about freely. People had hoped the government would provide justice to the heirs of innocent people who were killed on May 12 and restore the deposed judges.
The STP’s Students Federation also observed black day by holding a general body meeting in the Arts Faculty hall of the Sindh University.
In Mirpurkhas, different NGOs and political parties held rallies and demonstrations against government failure to take action against May 12 killers.
The activists of HRCP core group, Jamaat-i-Islami, Jamiat Ulema-i-Pakistan, Awami Tehrik, Labour Party and Sindh Taraqqi Pasand Party staged rallies.
In Shikarpur, activists of Jamaat-i-Islami and its affiliated organisations observed a black day and staged a rally and a demonstration.
In Naushahro Feroze, Moro, Bhirya, Kandiaro, Sanghar, Khipro, Tando Adam, Shahdadpur, Khairpur, Nawabshah, Dadu, Mehar, Johi, Khairpur Nathan Shah, Sehwan, Kotri and Badin activists of STP and AT held rallies and demonstrations, reiterating demands for reinstatement of judges and awarding exemplary punishment to the perpetrators of May 12 carnage in Karachi.