‘Govt’s actions similar to Zia’s crackdown on democracy’

Protests against the new local govt system continue for the fourth consecutive day.

HYDERABAD: The protests that erupted on Monday following the provincial legislature’s approval of the new local government system show no signs of subsiding. On Thursday, a fresh wave of remonstrations broke out in parts of southern Sindh, including Mirpurkhas, Umerkot and Badin, over the killing of people who protested against the ordinance.

Abdul Malik Noohani, the leader of Sindh Taraqi Pasand Party’s (STPP) Mirpurkhas division, was shot dead on Wednesday while protesting outside Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) MPA Mir Hayat Talpur’s residence in Dighri town. Other protesters said that the police guarding the house had opened fire. He was second nationalist worker to have been killed since October 1 and third since the promulgation of the new local government system on September 7. Earlier, Ali Raza Khaskheli, a Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz worker, was shot dead in Shaheed Benazirabad on the first day of the strike against the new system. Shahadat Jarawar, an Awami Tehreek worker, was killed in Mirpurkhas on September 13.

STPP’s chairman, Dr Qadir Magsi, asked the law enforcers to lodge a case against the policemen who opened fire on Noohani. “Justice should be allowed to take its course otherwise Noohani’s blood will seek revenge from the killers,” he said while talking to reporters at the residence of slain worker. Awami Tehreek’s chief, Ayaz Latif Palijo, said that the deaths of innocent people will be avenged. “The bloodshed of peaceful protesters is reminiscent of Zia’s crackdown on democratic forces,” said Palijo. He said that the only difference is that this time, a democratically elected government is mistreating the people who voted it into the power. He castigated PPP MPAs who voted in favour of the ordinance in the assembly and said that the people of Sindh will not remain silent on the issue.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 5^th, 2012.