Attack on court: Over 2,000 protesters booked

Legal fraternity boycotts court proceedings to register their protest.

SUKKUR: Ghotki police registered an FIR against more than 2,000 protesters, including two candidates, for allegedly attacking the court and manhandling lawyers in Ubauro.

According to reports, a sizable crowd, decrying the rigging during the polls, laid a siege outside the court and shouted slogans against the returning officers and the Election Commission of Pakistan. The protesters were led by Khalid Ahmed Lund, an independent candidate on NA-200 (Ghotki), and Shehryar Shar, a National Peoples Party aspirant from PS-5 (Ghotki).

The unruly mob, which remained outside the court for over three hours, reportedly manhandled the lawyers, took off their coats and burnt them. The violence forced the judges to take shelter in the nearby houses. Later, Ghotki SSP Abdul Salam Shaikh reached the spot with a large contingent of police following which the crowd dispersed.

The Sindh High Court chief justice took notice of the incident and ordered the police to register a case against the rioters. The head constable of Ubauro police station, Qazi Sajjad, told The Express Tribune that a case has been registered under sections 324,353,395,341,228,147, 148 of the Pakistan Penal Code and section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act against 33 nominated persons, including Khalid, Shafiq Khan Lund and Shar, and more than 2,000 unidentified persons. The police have arrested 15 accused so far, he added.

Shaikh suspended Ubauro SHO Khalid Memon owing to his failure to control the situation.

The legal fraternity in Sukkur and Ghotki, meanwhile, boycotted the court proceedings to register their protest against their colleagues’ manhandling and attack on the court.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 16^th, 2013.