The Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) held massive demonstrations and rallies in different cities and towns of Sindh province, raising voice for the transfer of the JUI-F Sindh leader Dr Khalid Mahmood Soomro murder case to a military court.
The protest forced the Sindh government to give a written undertaking for the trial of Dr Soomro murder case in military courts.
On the call of JUI-F, a massive rally was staged in Larkana on Saturday morning. A large number of JUI-F activists reached the Naundero Sugar Mill bypass where they held a huge protest demonstration, chanting slogans against Sindh government for its failure to transfer the Dr Khalid Mahmood Soomro murder case to military courts.
They protesters later staged a sit-in due to which the roads leading to Larkana, Sukkur and Garhi Khuda Bux remained blocked and thousands of vehicles came to a standstill. The protest continued for six hours.
The rally was led by JUI-F Sindh Secretary General Maulana Rashid Khalid Mahmood Soomro, Maulana Nasir Khalid Mahmood Soomro, Maulana Abdul Qudoos Panhwar, Abdul Salam Dharejo, Tariq Panhwar and other leaders.
The angry protesters holding placards and party flags refused to allow passage to the official convoy of Sindh Assembly Speaker Agha Siraj Durrani and forced him to return back. Minor disputes between the protesters and policemen were also reported, but no untoward incident took place.
Finally, Commissioner Ghulam Akbar Laghari and DIGP Sain Rakhio Mirani rushed to the protest venue and held talks with the JUI-F leadership. An undertaking was signed by the government functionaries on behalf of the Sindh chief minister and Sindh government with the protesting JUI-F.
The undertaking said, “We on behalf of CM Sindh and Government of Sindh do undertake that, the case of Shaheed Allama Dr. Khalid Mahmood Soomro, will be sent up to military court for trial up to 07.01.2016 after completing codal formalities. The legal heirs of Shaheed Dr Khalid Mahmood Soomro have given undertaking that there would be no protest up to 26.01.2016”.
The undertaking was jointly signed by Maulana Rashid Mahmood Soomro, Commissioner Ghulam Akbar Laghari and DIGP Sain Rakhio Mirani.
Addressing the protesters, JUI-F leader Maulana Rashid Mahmood Soomro said that they had been forced to come out on roads as the promises made by the Sindh chief minister and MNA Faryal Talpur had turned out to be void. He appealed to PPP workers to come out and join hands with the JUI-F for the arrest of Benazir Bhutto’s killers.
Rashid Soomro said that the commissioner and DIGP Larkana Division had given undertaking in writing on behalf of CM Qaim Ali Shah that the case would be transferred to military court within ten days. He said if this written commitment was not honoured then the JUI-F would stage a sit-in in front of the Chief Minister’s House in Karachi on January 26.
Dr Khalid Soomro, JUI-F’s former general secretary, was gunned down by unidentified armed men while he was offering Fajr prayers in Jamia Haqania in Gulshan-e-Iqbal area of Sukkur on November 19, 2014.
