DAWN.COM

Today's Paper | September 20, 2024

Published 05 Feb, 2008 12:00am

Campaign halted for fear of clashes, says ST

SUKKUR, Feb 4: Sunni Tehrik chairman Sarwat Aijaz Qadri on Monday accused the caretaker government of supporting a particular organisation in Karachi and Hyderabad and said: “We have stopped election campaign in the two cities to avoid bloody clashes.”

Mr Qadri said at a meeting of party workers and leaders at the party’s divisional office here that the workers of the organisation would make an attempt to trigger armed clashes with ST workers but “we do not wish to shed any blood.”

The party would, nevertheless, go into elections as it had given 72 tickets to candidates for contesting elections, he said, adding that the party had written several letters to the Election Commission of Pakistan complaining about irregularities and malpractices but so far it had not received any response.

He alleged that the caretaker government had set up hundreds of polling stations in sensitive areas near the offices of the organisation. They would certainly create problems on Feb 18 and make it impossible for a gentleman to cast vote in a peaceful atmosphere, he said.

Mr Qadri alleged that caretaker ministers and nazims were openly campaigning for their relatives and friends but the commission had not taken any action against them.

He said that the government removed and put under house arrest Chief Justice of Pakistan and several other judges and lawyers and registered cases against journalists, lawyers and representatives of civil society.

The government did nothing when 63 Ulema and scholars were killed in a bomb blast at Nishter Park in Karachi and it would again do thing after Benazir Bhutto’s murder, he said.

He said that the tehrik would organise seminars and rallies on Feb 5 to support Kashmiris’ peaceful struggle for freedom.

Mr Qadri appealed to people not to vote for the candidates who did nothing for their welfare during last eight years and repose their trust in religious leadership.

Read Comments

Govt's draft bill on constitutional amendments 'completely rejected', Fazl says after PTI luncheon Next Story