‘GDA not to tolerate police action against black day protesters’

The Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) has warned the caretaker government and police of Sindh against using force against the workers of the opposition parties who would be protesting across the province on Tuesday (today) against alleged rigging in the general elections held earlier this month.

GDA Information Secretary Sardar Abdul Rahim said on Monday that they would not tolerate police high-handedness in any case, and that if there is an attempt to harass the protesters, especially women, the entire province would be shut down.

Rahim instructed GDA workers to make the black day protests a success with peaceful demonstrations. He said that if anyone creates unnecessary hurdles in their way, sit-ins should be held at the points of those obstacles.

“We won’t allow any of our workers to be arrested because we have the constitutional and legal right to protest, and our protest will be peaceful. Enough is enough. We’re not afraid of any low-handed tactics of the Zardari league.”

He also said the GDA cannot accept the “bogus and fraudulent” results of the elections. He added that the movement of the opposition parties would stop only when re-elections are announced.

“The growing popularity of our movement across Sindh, including Karachi, can be gauged from the fact that all the political parties except the Pakistan Peoples Party and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan have gathered on the GDA platform. Their only slogan is ‘Hold elections again’.”

According to him, protest demonstrations would be held in front of press clubs and the election commission’s offices in district headquarters across the province, black flags would be hoisted at the parties’ offices and workers associated with these parties would wear black armbands.

Separately, Jamaat-e-Islami Sindh General Secretary Kashif Saeed Sheikh said the JI would hold black day demonstrations in Karachi and other parts of the province in collaboration with the GDA to protest against alleged poll rigging and the theft of the public’s mandate.

Sheikh said the JI has issued instructions to the party’s office-bearers and workers to participate in today’s protests in full force. He said that the “fraudulent” elections and the “theft” of the public’s mandate have brought a bad name to the country all over the world.

“The way political workers were arrested and tortured, and women were humiliated outside the Sindh Assembly in Karachi for protesting against this theft has even surpassed the eras of dictatorship.”

He claimed that the interim government of the province has demonstrated shamelessness by patronising the fraudulent elections and then resorting to violence against political workers. He also said that it is the constitutional and democratic right of every citizen to protest peacefully, and depriving them of this right is a gross violation of their freedom of expression and their human rights, as well as of the constitution.