Sanghar remains shut day after killings

HYDERABAD:

A day before going to the polls, which were postponed on Wednesday for the second time, Sanghar district reeled from Tuesday's violence in which four persons were killed and six were injured. The dominant parties in the district — Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League-Functional (PML-F) — were embroiled in the incident but the latter has been accused of the armed assault. Most parts of the district remained shut on Wednesday on the call of local PPP leaders.

A joint search operation along with the Rangers was carried out on Tuesday evening but the killers remained at large. A couple of suspects were detained during the search along Bakhoro Road but protests by residents forced the police to release them. Neither have the police declared any arrest nor have the aggrieved people been able to lodge an FIR. Sanghar SSP Dr Farrukh Ali and other police officers were unavailable for comments.

"The opponents were in a state of bafflement because they feared our victory," claimed PPP MNA Shazia Mari, as she spoke to the media in Sanghar's Khipro town. She argued that the incident was an attempt to harass the voters.

Naveed Dero, a nephew of PPP leader Fida Hussain Dero and brother of MPA Faraz Dero, complained that the police deliberately failed to arrest the suspected killers. "A third party may also be involved in the attack," said Dero, who was driving the vehicle which first came under fire during the attack. Dero, Fida and three other people survived because the vehicle was bulletproof. The deceased included two policemen, Nabi Bux Dero and Ashiq Hussain Mari, and as many PPP leaders, Gul Muhammad Mari and Gul Muhammad Shah. MPA Faraz Dero's brother, Sher Muhammad Dero, was shot and injured besides five others.

Meanwhile, PML-F's Sanghar-based leaders claimed that the PPP provoked them and was involved in the armed attack.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 17^th,  2015.