HYDERABAD, Dec 5 Activists of the Pakistan People's Party-Shaheed Bhutto held demonstrations and took out processions in several cities of the province on Saturday to voice protest against acquittal by a lower court of the main accused in murder case of Mir Murtaza Bhutto and his companions.
In Qasimabad area of Hyderabad, shopkeepers were forced to pull down shutters when PPP-SB activists resorted to aerial firing.
The PPP-SB activists and their supporters in the Central Jail climbed to the barracks' roofs as a mark of protest and later held a rally inside the prison, while a large number of their colleagues outside the jail held a demonstration in front of the press club.
The party leaders said that the acquittal of the accused had proved that the judiciary was not independent and appealed to people to support Bhutto family. The day would come when people's courts would hang the murderers publicly, they said.
In Thatta, the party activists took out a procession after groups of baton-wielding youths forced shopkeepers to close their businesses.
Processions were taken out in Dadu, Mehar, Faridabad, Johi and Sehwan.
In Nawabshah, baton-wielding party activists took to the streets to protest against the court judgement and forced traders to close their businesses on Sakrand road, Hospital road, Masjid road and other places.
In Larkana, the court decision sparked a spontaneous protest when a group of activists of the Sindh People's Youth Organisation-SB resorted to aerial firing at different places in the city in the presence of police.
The party leaders alleged that police had picked up 10 activists but police denied making any arrests.
Traders pulled down shutters of their shops after aerial firing but police soon brought the situation under control.
Ghulam Rasool Umrani, president of SPYO-SB, said at a press conference at the Al-Murtaza House that the party did not expected justice during the tenure of present government. “We did not even expect justice even in the Benazir Bhutto murder case,” he said.
He called for province-wide protest on Sunday and strike on Monday.
In Warah town, police registered an FIR against 50 protesters, including SPYO-SB leader Zulfikar Gaincho, on a compliant lodged by a local PPP leader Noorullah Abro who accused them of attacking and ransacking the party office.