ANP condemns killing of man at restaurant, reaction

Incident has nothing to do with ethnic strife, some vested interest are igniting tension

KARACHI:

The Awami National Party (ANP) has condemned the killing of a man at a restaurant in Hyderabad and the subsequent ethnic tension which the party believes is being incited by some vested interests.

At a press conference at the Hyderabad press club on Thursday the ANP's central leader Anwar Zeb Khan said under some malevolent conspiracy ethnic riots are being ignited.

He demanded that the Sindh government should order an impartial inquiry in the killing of Bilal Kaka at Super Salateen restaurant along Hyderabad bypass.

He also called for providing protection to the businesses of Pakhtuns. "The ANP's stance has always been that Sindh belongs to Sindhis and that Pakhtuns have come to this province to seek livelihood," said Khan.

He said the killing was not an ethnic attack rather it was a clash between the management of a restaurant and its customers over the payment of a bill.

The ANP leader urged the Sindhi nationalist leaders to play their role to calm down the spiralling tensions. The shops and restaurants of Pakhtun and Afghans were forcibly closed in some districts of Sindh including Hyderabad and Nawabshah in reaction to Kaka's killing.

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Kaka was an office bearer of Pak Sarzameen Party. The Hyderabad police claim that he possessed a criminal record with some 12 FIRs registered against him in different police stations of Hyderabad.

Meanwhile, Qomi Awami Tehreek President Ayaz Latif Palijo, Awami Workers Party's general secretary Dr Bakshal Thalho and some other nationalist leaders have condemned the elements sparking ethnic tensions in the province.

The ANP Karachi's leader Shahi Syed spoke over phone with Palijo on Thursday and with chairman of Sindh Taraqqi Pasand Party Dr Qadir Magsi.

"Pakhtuns are our brothers. We have no objection over their living or working in Sindh," said Sindh United Party's president Syed Jalal Mehmood Shah.

"However, the government should repatriate the Afghans who have been staying illegally in Sindh in connivance with the provincial government."

He held the Sindh government responsible for the prevailing situation because he said the criminal elements among the illegal migrants have been let loose. He reiterated that there is no ethnic clash between Sindhis and Pakhtuns.