QUETTA, Jan 14: Police have arrested 15 more activists of the Sibi Muttahida Mahaz for staging demonstrations and giving a shutter-down strike call for Saturday.

The Sibi Muttahida Mahaz (SMM) is demanding the separation of Lehri tehsil from Sibi and restoration of the district's old status.

The members and supporters of the Mahaz on Friday gathered at a stadium where the celebrations of the week-long Sibi festival had been arranged. They were carrying banners and placards and chanted slogans against the government.

Activists of the SMM also gathered at the Saqi Chowk. The police rounded up 15 SMM activists from both the places. Talking to Dawn on telephone a police official said that the activists were arrested for violating section 144 by gathering at the Saqi Chowk and disturbing the peaceful atmosphere of the Sibi Mela.

The official also confirmed that the SMM activists arrested earlier were on Friday produced before an anti-terrorism court for judicial remand. Meanwhile, SMM acting chairman Abdur Rashid Luni, while talking to this correspondent on telephone, claimed that 15 activists were arrested on Friday and 20 on Thursday. In all, he said, 180 SMM members had been arrested during the last four days.

He said that the Mahaz would not be frighten by the arrests or trail in the ATC, but would continue its peaceful struggle. The police have freed two MPAs Abdur Rahim Ziaratwal and Sardar Azam Musakhel and ex-minister Obaidullah Babat of the Pukhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party, who were arrested on Tuesday.

PROTEST: Leaders and supporters of the All-Pakistan Shia Action Committee staged a demonstration in front of Imambargah after Friday congregation criticizing the government for giving free hand to those who are out to kill followers of the Shia sect.

Allama Mehdi Najafi while addressing the protesters expressed grief over the death of religious scholar Agha Ziauddin Rizvi, who was fatally injured in an attack on Jan 8 in Gilgit near his house.

Rizvi and his guard, Tanvir Hussain, succumbed to injuries on Thursday in the Combined Military Hospital, Rawalpindi, whereas two of his other guards and a suspected terrorist had died on the spot in Gilgit.

He Allama Najafi said the government's attitude has encouraged terrorists to attack leaders and members of the Shia community. He said imposition of curfew and arrest of a few people would not improve the situation, because drastic steps were needed against those who were trying to create sectarian conflicts.

He demanded that the government should arrest the killers of the Shia leader at the earliest and try them in the speedy courts. The protesters later dispersed peacefully.