QUETTA, Feb 22: The Ahl-i-Sunnat Wal Jamaat (ASWJ) called off its nine-hour sit-in here late on Friday evening after Frontier Corps personnel were booked in a case about killing of two party activists in an operation earlier in the day.

However, the religious party has given a call for a strike on Saturday in protest against the killing of Muhammad Qasim and Abdul Mannan in the Nawan Killi operation. According to official sources, they were killed in an exchange of fire with security forces in which four FC personnel were injured.

The killing sparked strong protests as hundreds of ASWJ activists, carrying the two bodies, took out a procession and blocked the airport road.

After some time, the protesters started moving to the Governors’ House for a sit-in. But they were stopped at the GPO Chowk which police had blocked. The protesters held a sit-in and blocked the road.

A government team — including Home Secretary Akbar Durrani and CCPO Mir Zubair Mehmood — held talks with Maulana Muhammad Ramzan Mengal and other leaders of the party to persuade them to call off the protest.

The ASWJ leaders demanded registration of a murder case against FC personnel, release of the party workers arrested during operations in the city and compensation for the heirs of the two party workers.

After two hours of talks, the government team accepted the demand for registration of the case and told the ASWJ leaders that their other demands would also be considered.

The party leaders asked their workers to disperse after a case against unidentified FC personnel had been registered at the Zarghoon Road police station. A copy of the FIR was given to them.