Opposition Leader in Sindh Assembly Haleem Adil Sheikh on Saturday visited the protest camp set up by the residents of Ghazi village in Malir district, assuring full support in their peaceful demonstration against their forcible eviction by the high-ups of the Sindh government.
Talking to the media, Haleem alleged that police brutality was being used against the villagers — including women — who were protesting against the authorities illegally razing the houses of several hundred people to the ground.
He said that Sindh Chief Minister Sindh Murad Ali Shah and other Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leaders were only interested in making the ancient dwellers of the locality shelterless as they wanted to hand over the land to lang grabbers to mint money. He said that PPP rulers, instead of giving shelter and relief to those badly affected by the floods in the province, were busy razing the localities of the people of Sindh.
The PTI leader alleged that PPP leaders and rulers of Sindh had posted corrupt officers — including SSP Rahim Shirazi to the area — who, according to him, were already involved in the massacre of people in Lahore. Haleem demanded stern action against the police officials.
The PTI leader alleged that during the brutal police oppression, protesters were fired upon causing multiple injuries, with some in serious conditions. He said that during the police firing and torture, many women also suffered serious injuries. He said that the officers of the anti-encroachment force were also involved in the illegal displacement of the people of Sindh.
The PTI leader said that the son of one Anwar Majeed was directly involved in the ugly incident, who according to him, had been involved in land grabbing and was in cahoots with the builder mafia. He said that PTI leaders and workers would fully support the peaceful protests by the villagers.
Meanwhile, nationalist leaders, including chairman of Qaumi Awami Tehreek (QAT) Ayaz Latif Palijo, Syed Jalal Mehmood Shah, Dr. Qadir Magsi, Ameer Azad Panwahar, Dr. Niaz Kalani and others in their separate statements strongly condemned the brutish police action on the protesters of Ghazi village in Karachi on Saturday. They alleged that people of the ancient localities of Sindh in Karachi were being treated like people of Kashmir and Palestine only to allot the same lands to builders.
“People of Sindh have been treated like children of lesser gods, and such moves will be resisted by the people of the province,” Palijo said in his press statement.
On the other hand, Senator Nisar Ahmed Khuhro, who is also president of the PPP Sindh chapter, in his statement slammed the police torture on villages of Ghazi village. He said that he had directed the functionaries of the Sindh government to submit a detailed report to him so that he could take up the issue with the top leadership of the party. He said that the government in Sindh had been regulating the old villages in different districts of Karachi, adding that nobody would be allowed to evict the people.
In the same vein, Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah took notice of the brutal torture of the protesting villagers and ordered the suspension of the policemen involved in the act.
“All cops who tortured protesting villagers — including women — have been placed under suspension and an inquiry has been launched by the Sindh government,” the chief minister added.
Separately, SSP Shirazi, while talking to the media, rejected the claims of residents and leaders of different political parties and claimed that police parties were guarding the personnel of anti-encroachment authority when they were attacked. He claimed that during the attack some cops were also injured.
