However, the people — who took to the streets against construction of six new canals on the River Indus to irrigate Cholistan area of Punjab for corporate farming — resisted the police and thwarted the attempts to uproot the protest camps.
The police took the action nine to ten days after the start of the sit-in demonstrations.
The action was taken despite repeated government assurances that force would not be employed to end the protests which have blocked the movement of traffic, especially vehicles travelling to Punjab and coming back from that province.
The legal fraternity, which has been staging protests at four different locations on the highways including their central sit-in at Babarloi bypass in Khairpur district, as well as the nationalist and opposition parties in Sindh condemned the government’s alleged high-handedness.
They said sit-ins will be staged in every single district in Sindh if the police once again try to use force.
During the crackdown at Kandhkot, Pakka Chang, Moro and a couple of other places, riot police fired teargas canisters to disperse the crowd. They also baton-charged the protestors, who pelted stones on police personnel and their vehicles.
At least 10 persons were reportedly detained from the Pakka Chang camp on Mehran Highway.
Media workers also complained about getting manhandled by police. Two local journalists at Pakka Chang, Imtiaz Shar and Kazim Chang, alleged that the police seized their mobile phones because they were recording the crackdown.
The convener of the Sindhu Darya Bachayo Tehreek, Syed Zain Ali Shah, later gave a call for province-wide protests against the police action today (Monday). Token sit-in protests were later staged at around a dozen more locations on the highways in reaction to the police crackdown.
“The people of Sindh have rejected the government’s assurances concerning the canals. We will only end our protests once the government issues a notification for cancelling the canals and corporate farming projects,” said Shah at a press conference in Benazirabad district.
He condemned the government for subjecting peaceful lawyers and supporters of the nationalist par-ties to brutal assault to forcefully end the sit-ins. “Firing, shelling or baton-charge can’t stop us from protecting our Sindhu river [the River Indus].”
Sindh Taraqi Pasand Party Chairman Dr Qadir Magsi said in a statement on Sunday that the “assault” on the protest camps reminded him of the regimes of military dictators.
However, he said, the people who are participating in the protests despite hot weather and many other odds cannot be frightened by the police. He cautioned the rulers that if the state’s machinery is brought into play against the sit-in camps again, the consequences will be dreadful.
Qaumi Awami Tehreek President Ayaz Latif Palijo also warned the government not to push the peaceful protesters against the wall.
He contended that the anti-canal movement has drawn public support in Sindh which is even wider than the one given to the Movement for Restoration of Democracy (MRD) in the 1980s.
“There will be resistance after every five kilometers from Karachi to Kashmore, if the government dares to use brute force against the protesters.”
Karachi Bar Association President Aamir Nawaz Warraich, who is leading the sit-in at Babarloi bypass, condemned the police action. He reiterated that the lawyers who are sitting at the camps will return to their homes only after the government issues a notification for cancelling the project.
Workers of several nationalist parties, local citizens and lawyers also blocked the Hyderabad Bypass road which connects M-9 Motorway of Karachi to the National Highway through Hyderabad.
A large police contingent in dozens of vehicles was deployed near the protest’s location on Wadhu Wah road. The national highway was also blocked in Matiari, Benazirabad and Naushehro Feroze districts. The Indus and Mehran highways were also closed on multiple locations.
According to the police, during a sit-in on the National Highway, unidentified protesters attacked a passing government vehicle with stones and sticks. The vehicle was reportedly damaged by the stone-pelting. Some agitated individuals also stole various items from inside the vehicle and set fire to it.
According to Malir Traffic Police, due to the protest, both sides of the Link Road T-Crossing and the main National Highway — towards and from the city and Thatta — are closed to traffic.
Traffic Police have requested the public to call the Traffic Helpline 1915 to choose alternate routes and avoid inconvenience. Late at night, partial traffic flow was restored on one track of the National High-way coming from Thatta to Karachi.
A heavy police presence remains deployed at the site of the protest.