Tribesmen bring along their dead in Sindh highway protest
Members of Bhand community allege lapses after bloody clashes with rival clan
Following a round of bloody clashes between two tribal communities in Sindh, the National Highway connecting the province to others, was blocked in Nawabshah district for around 48 hours amid protests by members of one of the tribes whose members died in the violence.
The people of the Bhand community have been protesting at Nawab Wali Mohammad Town of Nawabshah along with the dead bodies of five tribesmen since Saturday. Five members of the tribe and a police official lost their lives following a tribal clash between the Bhand and a rival clan over a dispute related to agricultural land.
The Sindh United Party (SUP), whose leader Syed Zain Shah has been participating in the sit-in protest in Nawabshah, had called for protests all across the province yesterday to express solidarity with the victimised tribe.
One such protest was held outside Karachi Press Club while Opposition legislators in Sindh Assembly also agitated during its proceedings, resulting in an abrupt adjournment of the session.
The SUP has also given an appeal for observing a peaceful strike in Sindh today against the killing of tribesmen and the failure of the Sindh government to ensure justice to the bereaved community members.
The protesting Bhand community has been demanding that influential persons belonging to the rival tribe who were involved in the violent faceoff and land dispute be included in criminal cases filed by police. They have also been demanding that the senior superintendent of police posted in the district be sacked for his failure to prevent violence and criminal attempt to unduly occupy the farmland.
Leader of Opposition in Sindh Assembly, Haleem Adil Shaikh, who belongs to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, also reached the site of sit-in from Karachi on the instructions of Prime Minister Imran Khan to show solidarity with the aggrieved tribesmen. He threatened to block the rest of the highways in Sindh to step up the protest if the provincial government failed to do justice.