BADIN: Several hundred supporters of former home minister Dr Zulfikar Ali Mirza held demonstrations outside the Khoski police station and the Khoski Sugar Mills in Khoski town on Tuesday to express their resentment over the arrest earlier in the day of his close aide, Mirza Afzal Baig. They held a sit-in which was continuing when last reports came in a little before midnight.

The protesters alleged that Mr Baig and several of his associates were implicated in false cases at the behest of Anwar Majeed, said to be a trusted lieutenant of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari managing the latter`s assets. Mr Majeed also owns the Khoski Sugar Mills, the protesters said.

Led by Dilber Sindhi, Asghar Ghamman and others, the protesters raised slogans for the release of Mr Baig and cancellation of the `false` FIR. They alleged that Mr Majeed and his associates were subjecting Dr Mirza`s supporters to political victimisation through police. They said Mr Majeed wanted to dislodge the inhabitants of old villages around his sugar mills to get the land vacated. Since Dr Mirza`s aides were resisting the unlawful act, they were being implicated in false cases, they added.