LARKANA, Jan 17: A five-member committee, headed by Sindh Irrigation Minister Nadir Akmal Leghari which is conducting an inquiry into killing of four protesters in Qambar, will submit its findings and recommendations to the provincial chief minister after Eidul Azha.

This was stated by Mr Leghari while talking to journalists at the residence of Pakistan Muslim League leader Nawab Shabir Ahmed Chandio in Qambar on Monday. Other members of the committee, Provincial Ministers Dr Sohrab Sarki and Altaf Unnar, Akbar Shah Rashdi and Parvaiz Paichoho, were present on the occasion.

Mr Leghari said that no one would go escort free if he was found involved in the tragedy. However, he avoided question about delay in the arrest of the police personnel nominated in the FIR.

Answering a question, he said that the FIR against Qambar Taluka Nazim Sardar Khan Chandio and 200 others would be withdrawn. He said that the committee would meet people in Shahdadkot, Mirokhan and Warah on Tuesday to seek their opinion about the new district but added in the same breath that there was no need to hear people of Larkana in this regard.

Whatever had been done by the Sindh government was in people's interest, he said. Later, speaking at a public meeting organized by the Citizens Action Committee, Mr Leghari, Dr Sarki and Mr Unnar assured people of justice and defended the decision of creating new districts.

They said that the committee members were there to offer condolence on the death of four protesters, to ascertain the reasons behind the incident and to resolve the issue of name of the new district.

Participants of the meeting stood up in protest when Mr Leghari said that Qambar would remain the headquarters of Shahdadkot district, demanding that the new district be named Qambar.

Speaking on the occasion, the leaders of the action committee, Bhaoo Dur Mohammed Buriro, Umed Ali Pathan, Mohammed Ayoub Ansari, Abdul Hadi Chandio, Sobhraj and the taluka nazim accused police of killing four peaceful protesters in direct firing.

While the action committee leaders were at the rostrum, most of the ministerial committee members were busy in talking to each other. Four resolutions were passed by the gathering in the presence of the ministerial committee, demanding registration of an FIR against the DPO of Larkana and his arrest, withdrawal of the FIR against the nazim and 200 others and a declaration that name of the new district, carved out of Larkana district, would be Qambar.

Earlier the ministers condoled with the bereaved families of the deceased at their residences. The relatives of the deceased refused to receive the compensation cheques offered by the ministers, sources said.

They demanded district status for Qambar and arrest of the police personnel involved in killing of their relatives. Later the ministerial committee visited Shahdadkot.

BOYCOTT: Doctors affiliated with the Pakistan Medical Association boycotted OPD duties in the Chandka Medical College Hospital and its affiliated units for two hours here on Monday. They were demanding release of a dentist, Dr Aftab Rahoojo, who had been detained in the judges kidnapping case.

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