HYDERABAD, July 2: The Sindh People’s Youth Organisation (SPYO) announced on Monday that the party would observe a black day and a day of warning across the province on Tuesday to condemn smear campaign against the chairperson of People’s Party Parliamentarians, Ms Benazir Bhutto.

The organisation’s central president, Aajiz Dhamrah, told a news conference at the press club here that they would stage demonstrations, hunger strikes and sit-ins on the protest day. Their protest would be peaceful but if the authorities tried to sabotage it, then they themselves would be responsible for the ensuing consequences, he warned.

Mr Dhamrah said that Ms Benazir Bhutto had been a victim of officially-run smear campaign for 11 long years and facing persecution in false corruption cases.

The campaign was aimed at keeping Ms Bhutto under constant pressure so that she might not be able to run in the upcoming elections but she had emerged victorious from all the conspiracies against her and still remained the undisputed leader of people, he said.

The governments as a rule did indulge in smear campaigns against politicians but the Pakistani rulers had crossed all limits in their attempts to malign Bhutto family, which had rendered tremendous sacrifices for democracy and Islam and made Pakistan invincible by making it a nuclear power, he said.

He said that since the rulers were afraid of Ms Bhutto’s victory in coming elections they had unleashed this smear campaign by using the weapon of religion against her.

He warned that if the banners put up against her in Karachi were not removed then the people reserved the right to take whatever action they deemed fit, which could have serious repercussions across the country, especially Sindh.

To a question about who was responsible for the smear campaign, Mr Dhamrah held Federal Minister Eijazul Haq and the Sindh government responsible.

HUNGER STRIKE: A large number of the councillors of Qasimabad taluka and activists of political parties in the lead of taluka naib nazim, Hyder Shahani, continued token hunger strike at the Naseem Nagar Chowk for the second consecutive day on Monday.

They were protesting against what they termed a step-motherly treatment being meted out to their area by the district government with regard to development works.

MMA's MPA Abdul Rehman Rajput and leaders of PPP, SNF, JUI and STP visited the strikers’ camp and expressed solidarity with them. The strikers demand transfer of Rs2.37 billion to Qasimabad from Hyderabad Development Package, establishment of a trauma centre, increase in the number of union councils, grant of funds on the basis of population as well as on the basis of neglected areas, declaration of Niaz Stadium as the property of Qasimabad taluka, implementation of beautification programme and construction and rehabilitation of infrastructure including roads and sewerage system in Qasimabad.