SUKKUR: District administration, in assistance with Sukkur police, started the dismantling of illegally constructed houses and removal of cattle pens and hotels at dikes of all three right side canals of Sukkur Barrage. During the anti-encroachment operation, teams faced resistance from illegal occupants but police and law enforcement agencies controlled the situation. However, protestors, after blocking the road leading towards Quetta and Peshawar, continued their protest. Police led by Sukkur SSP Amjad Shaikh, after facing some resistance, managed to calm down the protestors. Meanwhile, protestors claimed that they were promised by Sindh government minister Nasir Shah and Noman Islam Shaikh that they would be provided an alternate place but no such promise was withheld. Addressing a press conference on the matter, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) local leader Mubeen Khan Jatoi and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam -F (JUI-F) leader Saleh Indhar slammed the operation and alleged that Sindh government elected representatives were expelling poor people from dikes only to establish their hotels and restaurant over there. Published in Daily Times, November 3rd 2017.