HYDERABAD, Nov 17: Activists of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal on Friday held a demonstration outside the press club in protest against the passage of Protection of Women’s Rights Bill by the National Assembly.

They carried placards and banners inscribed with slogans against the bill and chanted slogans against the government.

Sindh Jamaat-i-Islami Naib Ameer Dr Mumtaz Memon said that initially the government had created sectarian differences and then divided the people by raising the bogey of Kalabagh and other dams.

He said that now it was adding fuel to the fire by adopting the so-called women's rights bill.

He said that soon women themselves would come out on the roads against the anti-Islamic law.

Shaikh Shoukat Ali, Maulana Taj Mohammad Nahiyoo, Maulana Hifzur Rehman and Maulana Ghulam Mohammad spoke on the occasion.

They accused the government of promoting obscenity in the country.

They said that all this was being done to appease America.

They vowed to continue the protest to its logical conclusion.

STAGE ARTISTES: Stage artists held a demonstration outside the press club on Friday in protest against decrepit condition of the historic open-air theatre in Rani Bagh.

They criticised the contractor for not carrying out any development work in the theatre.

Sarwar Nadeem, Khalid Imran and Ishaque Rajo demanded that the contract of the open air theatre should be cancelled and it should be handed over to the Qasimabad taluka.

They said that employees of contractors were creating hurdles in holding the stage plays and harassing artists.

They said that during the last five years the contractor had not carried out any development work in the open air theatre as a result the stage was in a decrepit condition.

They said that art was being destroyed due to the attitude of the contractor and the artists were being discouraged.

They demanded that action should be taken against the contractors who had earned tens of thousands of rupees from the theatre but had not spent a single penny on its development.