BADIN: Police personnel on Wednesday removed barriers on the road leading to Mirza farm in Badin, ending a day-long blockade of former Sindh home minister Zulfiqar Mirza’s hometown residence.
A strong contingent of heavily-armed personnel and a large number of police vehicles and armoured personnel carriers were removed today from the area surrounding Mirza farm.
Last week, police in Badin filed four cases on charges of terrorism and attempted murder against Mirza, an estranged Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader who has recently fallen out of favour with PPP-co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari.
The Sindh High Court later granted the former home minister protective bail until Wednesday (May 6), when he is scheduled to appear in court.
The situation turned tense on Tuesday as heavy police contingents surrounded Mirza’s Badin residence and started advancing towards the farm, raising fears for a likely confrontation between police and Mirza’s supporters.
But the situation cooled down as police later retreated and took positions at a distance from the farm, blockading the road leading to his residence.
Geo News reporters confirmed that police forces have now been withdrawn from the area.
Mirza accuses the police of planning to assassinate him in a ‘fake encounter’ similar to the murder of Murtaza Bhutto – the eldest son of PPP founder Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto who was killed in a police encounter in Karachi.
The News International Pak
