[Reader-list] Uprising in Sindh: Hundreds of thousands took to the street in two weeks

[Zulfiqar Shah]

Dear Friends:

 
Resistance and uprising is underway in Sindh since last 15 days
against the controversial Sindh Local Government Law, in which two province-wide
shutter-down and vehicle-jam strikes were observed and hundreds of thousands
people participated the rallies and marches held across the province including
the capital city of the province. 
 
People in almost all major cities and towns of the province are
protesting almost every day. More than 700 activists have been booked and / or
detained by the police, mostly under the notorious Anti-Terrorism Act.    
 
On October 14 evening, police and law enforcers besieged Hyderabad,
the second largest city of Sindh to ensure the public gathering by the ruling
Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) in favor of the controversial law.  
 
During first four days of the uprising, four (4) activists were killed
by police and law enforcing agencies, which resulted into the street
gun-battles in some districts according to newspapers. At least one police station
was ablaze by the protesters.     
 
A large number of civil society organizations and activists, poets, writers,
journalists, lawyers, and professional bodies have protested against the
legislation that is bound to administratively divide Sindh. The lawyers
suspended the courts proceeding in protest across the provinces, and entry of
Sindh Law Minister in the Lawyers Bar Councils is banned.    
 
People express their anger by embossing the names of the President, Chief
Minister of Sindh and other ministers Sindh Government on the stray animals. A
large number of the PPP parliamentarians have been thrown upon the Bangles and their
houses have been pelted with the stones.    
 
Here is the link for daily brief and news links of the movement: 
 
http://rightsupdate.blogspot.com/p/resistance-in-sindh.html 
 
Sincerely, 
 
Zulfiqar Shah
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The Institute for Social Movements, Pakistan
www.ismpak.org