HYDERABAD, Jan 9: As per the latest figures collected from the office of the DIG Hyderabad, 1,627 cases were registered against 510,351 people in the nine districts of Hyderabad range between December 27 to January 5, following the assassination of PPP chairperson, Benazir Bhutto in Rawalpindi.

According to DIG Hyderabad, Shoukat Shah, in the above FIRs, 4,772 accused have been nominated while 505,587 remain unidentified. At least 360 accused have officially been shown arrested.

According to break-up, 434 cases were registered against 115,534 accused out of which 424 have been nominated and 61 were arrested in Hyderabad district. In Matiari district, 40 cases were registered against 2,351 and 49 nominated and 17 shown as arrested.

In Tando Allahyar, 79 cases were registered against 13,934 accused out of which 553 were nominated and 26 were shown as arrested. In Tando Muhammad Khan, 150 cases were registered against 89,893 accused out of which 189 were nominated while eight arrested.

In Jamshoro district, 194 cases were registered against 78,917 accused out of which 46 have been nominated while 38 have been shown as arrested. In Dadu district, 237 cases were registered against 92,247 accused out of which 404 were nominated and 23 were arrested.

In Badin, 190 cases were lodged against 11,226 accused out of which 886 were nominated and 71 were arrested. In Thatta district, 230 cases were registered against 92,374 accused out of which 2,015 were nominated and only ten have been shown as arrested.

In Nawabshah district, 73 cases were lodged against 13,883 accused out of which 226 were nominated while 106 accused have been arrested.

REACTION: The Sindh Taraqi Passand Party Chairman, Dr Qadir Magsi, has condemned registration of cases against tens of thousands of innocent people, including hundreds of party activists for destroying government and public properties following the assassination of Ms Benazir Bhutto.

In a statement faxed to Dawn here on Wednesday, he termed this as grand operation and victimisation of Sindhi people. He said the martyrdom of Benazir Bhutto had inflicted deep wounds in the soul of every Sindhi and jolted the entire country, specially Sindh.

He said the registration of false cases against the Sindhi people amounted to rubbing salt in their gaping wounds. He said, strong reaction against the brutal murder of Ms Bhutto was only natural but the state had unleashed repression against the Sindhi people.

He said that the caretaker government was playing in the hands of PML-Q and MQM and added that the bureaucracy was dancing to their tune. Magsi said that at the instance of PML-Q and MQM, Sindh police had unleashed terror and was raiding villages and violating the sanctity of chadar and char deewari.

Awami Tehrik chief Rasool Bux Palijo, in a statement faxed to Dawn, said that the registration of false cases against tens of thousands of Sindhi people has posed a challenge not only for the Sindhi nation but all the democratic forces.

He said the correct course for the Musharraf’s government was to accept the responsibility of the murder of Benazir Bhutto and resign but the government had unleashed terror against political activists, journalists, farmers, lawyers and respectable people.

Palijo said that the law enforcement agencies were raiding houses violating the sanctity of chadar and char deewari and arresting the people. He pointed out that it was not a question of victimising any group or party but the entire Sindhi nation and was a national issue.

He demanded that all the false cases should be withdrawn and the arrested people should be released.

LEGAL COMMITTEE: A legal aid committee was constituted at a meeting held here on Wednesday under the chairmanship of Fazal Qadir Memon, a leader of Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, to extend legal assistance free of cost to those people, who were recently arrested by police following the murder of Ms Benazir Bhutto.