MITHI: Sindh Home Minister Suhail Anwar Siyal on Sunday visited the bereaved family of Daleep and Chandar, the two brothers who were shot dead by robbers at their food grain outlet in Mithi on Friday.

Many towns of Thar­parkar and Umerkot districts have remained closed since the incident took place and protesters led by the Maheshwari community, which the victims belonged to, held street protests and sit-ins until Sunday evening to demand arrest of the culprits.

The home minister assured the Maheshwari and other Hindu communities of Thar that the killers would he arrested very soon. He said if it turned out to be conspiracy to provoke communal disharmony in this most peaceful part of the province, the conspirators would be tracked down and dealt with sternly.

He expressed deep shock and grief on behalf of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari, MNA Faryal Talpur and all other party leaders over the murder of the prominent food grain traders of the area. He said he visited the bereaved family on a directive of the top party leadership.

Later, replying to various questions asked by local reporters outside the Maheshwaris’ house, Mr Siyal noted that conspiracies were being hatched to vitiate the peaceful atmosphere of Tharparkar at a time when it [the district] was attracting heavy investments from across the world in the coal and energy sectors.

The minister said the provincial government would not allow extremists to work as a party or group or establish unauthorised seminaries, centres etc. A watchful eye on their activities was being maintained, he added.

Regarding the investigation into the traders’ murder, he said police were doing their work with the help of close circuit television (CCTV) camera footings and other evidence collected from the crime scene. “They have also been told not to cause trouble to innocent people unnecessarily,” he added.

Mr Siyal urged the Hindu community and traders to exercise restraint and keep their protests peaceful so as to avoid trouble to other people. He noted that the protests continuing since after the incident had paralysed life in a vast area for the last three days which was not beneficial to the general public.

Dr Khatoo Mal Jeevan, Dr Mahesh Kumar Malani, Eng­i­neer Gayanchand, Arbab Lutfullah, Hari Ram Kesh­wari Lal, Shusheel Malani, Chandar Sharma and other PPP leaders were accompanying Mr Siyal when he condoled the death of the traders with their father, Peetambar Maheshwari and his other close relatives.

Eailer, Senator Aajiz Dhamrah, Akash Satori and some other PPP leaders visited the bereaved family to condole the deaths.

Meanwhile, Mithi and some other towns remained shut for a third consecutive day on Sunday in protest against the double murder and failure of the area police in apprehending the culprits.

Several hundred residents of Mithi held a sit-in again at Kashmir Chowk for five hours. They included activists of Awami Tehreek, Qaumi Awami Tehreek, Sindh Taraqqi-pasand Party, Jamat-i-Islami.

KARACHI: Members of the Maheshwri and other Hindu communities along with civil society activists held a demonstration outside the Karachi Press Club on Sunday to condemn the traders’ murder and demand immediate arrest of the killers.

Minority leaders of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf and Sindh Secular Forum spoke to the participants and criticised the district administration and area police for their failure to protect citizens’ life and property.

They warned the provincial government that the protest would be intensified if the culprits were not arrested at the earliest.

Published in Dawn, January 8th, 2018