MIRPURKHAS, Oct 3: A former district chief of Sindh Taraqqi Pasand Party (STPP) was gunned down during a brawl in Digri on Wednesday.

Reports from the area suggested that Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz had organised a rally against the controversial local government law and denial of the registration of a murder FIR of the party chief, Bashir Khan Qureshi.

Participants in the rally, who included activists and supporters of other nationalist parties, were passing through Digri Road in Tando Ghulam Ali and paused near the residence of PPP MPA Mir Haji Hayat Talpur to raise slogans against the government and register their protest against the passage of the law. During the course of their protest, some people riding motorcycles urged the rally participants to clear the road for them. However, the protesters, some of them armed, declined to oblige them, triggering an exchange of hot words between the two sides.

The heated arguments ended up in a free for all during which armed protesters started firing and Abdul Malik Nohani, 40, son of Allah Bux Nohani, sustained serious bullet wounds. He was being shifted to the Taluka Hospital, Digri, but succumbed to his wounds on the way. The armed men fled the scene and the rally participants also dispersed in panic.

The deceased was stated to be a former president of STPP’s Mirpurkhas chapter.

All markets, bazaars, shops and business concerns in Digri closed down after the incident.

Heavy contingents of police were deployed in the town to maintain law and order.

The deceased’s father, Allah Bux Nohani, lodged an FIR under sections 302, 114, 337-H(ii), 34 of PPC and Section 6/7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act at the Digri police station, nominating Qadir Bux , Dur Mohammad, Sahab Khan and Sikandar, all Nohanis and stated to be PPP supporters, as suspects.

No arrest was made till late Wednesday.

Local leadership of the Sindh Bachayo Committee has given a call for strike in Mirpurkhas district for Thursday.