HRCP SUPPORTS SEP 1 STRIKE
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KARACHI: Supporting the September 1 strike call given by the joint opposition against the killing of veteran Baloch nationalist leader, Nawab Akbar Bugti, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, and other human rights organisations have demanded the conduct of investigations into the incident by an independent commission comprising impartial respected citizens, and the civil society.

They also demanded an immediate cessation of ongoing military operation in Balochistan, and release of detained and "disappeared" citizens in all over the country.

Addressing a joint press conference at Karachi Press Club on Wednesday, the HRCP Secretary General, Iqbal Haider, Chairman World Social Forum Pakistan, Karamat Ghouri, Uzma Bukhari, Raheel Iqbal, Khuwaja Tariq Nazir and others asked the regime to stop police operations, harassment, victimization, and arrests of Baloch communities and their supporters in Sindh and Balochistan.

Mr Haider demanded the hand-over of the remains of Nawab Akbar Bugti and his companions to their rightful heirs, and immediate access to the areas of the military operations in particular the spot of the murder of Nawab Bugti to human rights organisations, lawyers, and journalists.

He observed that the resolution of all the outstanding issues, causes, and disputes concerning Balochistan and its resources, could only be possible through peaceful negotiations and transparent dialogue.

" All the recommendations of the parliamentary committee headed by Chaudry Shujjat Hussain must be made public and implemented forthwith in letter and spirit", he maintained adding that maximum autonomy in letter and spirit must be guaranteed for all the federating units.

If the government, he opined, had implemented the recommendations of the parliamentary committee, the gruesome incident of August 26 would not have occurred.

He said the murder of Nawab Bugti had pushed the country’s political situation towards 1971 warlike conditions, which later led to the dismemberment of Pakistan. " We apprehend that the consequences of the ongoing military operation in Balochistan may be equally disastrous", he added.

Expressing his concern over grave violation of human rights in Balochistan, Sindh and NWFP, particularly the abduction and disappearance of the citizens, Mr Haider said that " We consider all the detained people innocent until they are charged by the government".

Mr Haider announced that the Joint Action Committee (JAC), a conglomerate of various human rights organisations and NGOs would fully support and participate in the strike to be observed on September 1 against the killing of Nawab Akbar Bugti and other violations of human rights in the country.

He said that the JAC also supported the "black day" to be observed on Friday in Sindh by Jeay Sindh Quami Mahaz against the respective incident.

The JAC would participate a protest demonstration organised by Sindh Quami Ittehad against military operation in Balochistan and murder of Nawab Akbar Bugti at Regal Chow today (Thursday).

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Baloch in Nimroz condemns Bugti's death

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ZARANJ, Aug 29 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Baloch living on this side of the border Tuesday condemned the killing of Nawab Akbar Bugti in a military operation in Pakistan's Balochistan province on Saturday.

A meeting, attended by around 4,000 Baloch, was held in the Jame Mosque of the western Nimroz province to offer Fateha (prayer) for the soul of the deceased Baloch nationalist leader.

The participants praised late Nawab Bugti for his courage and bravery and offered him rich tributes. Addressing the gathering, Maulvi Mohammad Sarwar, an ethnic Baloch and head of the provincial court said Bugti's death was a great loss for the entire Baloch nation.

Baloch people are inhabiting the border areas of the three neighbours, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran. About 30,000 Baloch are living in the western Nimroz province.

Akbar Khan Bugti was killed along with his family members and comrades in an air and ground operation conducted by the Pakistan army. Bugti's death was widely condemned by almost all Pakistani political parties while the two cities of Quetta and Karzachi were paralysed by strike and violent protests.

Mustafa Kazimi

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Baluchis cut-off road ties with Pakistan

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Quetta, Aug 30: As a direct fallout of last Saturday's killing of Baloch leader Akbar Khan Bugti, the agitation in Baluchistan is now spreading, and today, the main RCD Highway connecting Baluchistan to the rest of Pakistan was sealed by protesting Baluchis.

Life in Quetta, besides other parts of Balochistan has been severely affected by a partial strike.

Trucks carrying supplies from Sindh to other parts of Pakistan were stopped. Those trucks carrying goods from Punjab province were particularly targeted.

All along the RCD Highway today, bands of Baluchi youth, shouting `Azadi' slogans, brought traffic to a complete standstill.

"We have nothing to do with Pakistan and its rulers (Pervez Musharraf and Shaukat Aziz), who have killed Bugti saheb," said some of the protesters. Heavy boulders and roads have been placed on various parts of the highway, while Quetta City was cut-off from the highway.

Protesters putting up burnt tyres and raising barriers at the Hub River Bridge linking Karachi to Balochistan have cut off the road from Sindh to the industrial city of Hub. The enraged demonstrators have also raised barriers on the Quetta-Karachi National Highway at Lakh Pas, Mastung, Qalat, Khuzdar, Wadh and other areas obstructing all sorts of traffic.

The road between Quetta and Iran has also been blocked off. Traffic has also been blocked at Nowshki, Dalbadin, Chaghi and Taftan.

The anger is spilling over, and the violence has wrecked large parts of Baluchistan, where the mood is to cut off ties and communication with the rest of the country.

Reports of violence and destruction of property have come in from areas like Turbat, Mand, Tump, Baleda, Dasht, Punjgur and Mastung. In Turbat, an under construction radio transmission building was damaged extensively. Agitators were also reported to have staged a protest demonstration along the Coastal Highway in Gawadar; and some shops were ransacked in Chaghi.

Bureau Report

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MQM leader terms Baloch situation as point of no return
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London, Aug 30: Condemning the use of force by the Pakistani Army that led to the killing of Baloch leader Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti, Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM) leader Altaf Hussain has said that the situation in Balochistan was reaching to a point of no return.

Hailing Bugti as “a brave man who chose to embrace death than to bow down his head,” Hussian said that Bugti always demanded the government to desist using the power of the state and to redress the grievances of the smaller provinces by taking serious notice of its issues.

Stating that MQM has also been repeatedly demanding the government to settle the Balochistan issue through sincere dialogue, Hussain said: “Musharraf should seriously analyze the issues of the smaller provinces and give provincial autonomy along with genuine rights and powers to govern their provinces and promote harmony, national integration and cultural pluralism in the country”.

Hussian also observed that brutal use of force complicates the matter further, promotes hatred and distances the people, thereby shutting the door for dialogues.

Bureau Report

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Unrest persists in Balochistan

www.hindu.com/2006/08/31/stories/2006083107861400.htm
Nirupama Subramanian

People offer funeral prayers for Nawab Bugti; mourners go on the rampage



ISLAMABAD: The violence that erupted in Balochistan after the killing of Jhamoori Watan Party leader Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti abated on Wednesday but many towns in the province continued to be affected by shutter-down strikes, and sporadic incidents or arson were reported from some places.

Protesters blocked traffic to Hub ensuring that the industrial town was crippled. Thousands of people working in the Baloch town who commute daily from Karachi in neighbouring Sind could not reach their places of work.

A call from the nationalist four-party Baloch Alliance ensured that traffic on all other highways connecting the province to other parts of Pakistan remained blocked. Movement within Balochistan was also severely restricted.

Militants surrender

In many Baloch towns, people offered funeral prayers for Nawab Bugti, and in two places, mourners went on the rampage, according to reports.

In Quetta, the Baloch capital, it was a violence-free day with shops cautiously reopening after three days of arson and vandalism. But banks and schools remained closed.

The Government said 2,000 militant Marri tribesmen along with six commanders surrendered to district authorities in Kohlu, the place where Nawab Bugti met his end. The Nawab had left Bugti territory a few months ago to take shelter in Marri territory when security forces intensified their operations against him.

District officials said this was the first time the Marri tribesmen had surrendered. But Hyrbair Marri, son of the Marri leader Nawab Khair Baksh Marri, slammed the Government for the killing of Nawab Bugti, and said the Baloch people would never give up their armed struggle "until the achievement of their goal."

He alleged cluster bombs had been used on Nawab Bugti's hide-out and the killing was planned. The Baloch Liberation Army, a shadowy force that has claimed responsibility for several militant attacks, is linked to another son of Nawab Marri.

The Government said on Tuesday it had wanted to apprehend Nawab Bugti alive but a mysterious explosion inside the hide-out had put paid to the attempt by causing a collapse, killing all those inside and the military officials who had descended into the cave to negotiate with him.

Following incidents against Punjabi settlers in many parts of Balochistan since Sunday, the police described such acts as reprehensible and said these people, who had settled in Balochistan over the last four or five decades, belonged there, and had nowhere else to go.

Baloch-dominated parts of Karachi and places in interior Sindh that were affected by violence were incident-free day on Wednesday.

Sindh Chief Minister Arbab Ghulam Raheem said the involvement of external elements could not be ruled out in the situation in Balochistan.

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Sindh-Balochistan border sealed

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Area bordering Sindh, Balochistan and the Punjab has been cordoned off to avoid backlash from killing of Nawab Akbar Bugti


Agencies


Sukkur: Frontier Constabulary and Rangers personnel have been put on high alert and the entire area bordering the provinces of Sindh, Balochistan and the Punjab has been cordoned off to deal with any backlash of the killing of Jamhoori Watan Party chief Nawab Akbar Bugti in a major operation in Balochistan.

Immediately after the killing of the veteran Baloch leader by security forces in Kohlu on Saturday, pickets were established and the border area of Kohlu was converted into a no-go area by the law-enforcement agencies.

The border belt from Jacobabad to Thull was sealed and FC and Rangers men were deployed to the pickets for security purposes.

On Sunday, there was not much vehicular traffic in Sukkur, Rohri, Jacobabad, Kashmore, Kandhkot, Thull, Tangwani, Buxapur, Karampur and other areas of Sindh, shopping areas were deserted and people chose to stay indoors. Besides, Rangers and FC Personnel were deployed at vital installations, including the Guddu and Sukkur barrages, the Lanse Down Bridge and gas pipelines, to foil any attempt of sabotage.

Heavy contingents of Rangers personnel were also deployed in Dera More, 2 km from Kashmore, on the road leading to Dera Ghazi Khan in the Punjab and the Kohe Suleman in Balochistan. No vehicular traffic was allowed beyond these limits.

The FC and Rangers men were seen patrolling towns and villages situated in the border area.

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Baluchistan cut off
Agitators seal main highway to Pak
Muhammad Anwer
Asia News International

www.tribuneindia.com/2006/20060831/main1.htm

Quetta, August 30
As a direct fallout of last Saturday’s killing of Baluch leader Akbar Khan Bugti, the agitation in Baluchistan is now spreading, and today, the main RCD Highway connecting Baluchistan to the rest of Pakistan was sealed by protesting Baluchis.

Life in Quetta, besides other parts of Baluchistan has been severely affected by a partial strike.

Trucks carrying supplies from Sindh to other parts of Pakistan were stopped. Those trucks carrying goods from Punjab province were particularly targeted.

All along the RCD Highway today, bands of Baluchi youth, shouting ‘Azadi’ slogans, brought traffic to a complete standstill.

“We have nothing to do with Pakistan and its rulers (Pervez Musharraf and Shaukat Aziz), who have killed Bugti saheb,” said some of the protesters.

Heavy boulders and roads were placed on various parts of the highway, while Quetta City was cut-off from the highway.

Protesters put up burnt tyres and raised barriers at the Hub River Bridge linking Karachi to Baluchistan cutting off the road from Sindh to the industrial city of Hub . The enraged demonstrators also raised barriers on the Quetta-Karachi National Highway at Lakh Pas, Mastung, Qalat, Khuzdar, Wadh and other areas obstructing all sorts of traffic.

The road between Quetta and Iran was also blocked. Traffic was also blocked at Nowshki, Dalbadin, Chaghi and Taftan.

Reports of violence and destruction of property have come in from areas like Turbat, Mand, Tump, Baleda, Dasht, Punjgur and Mastung. In Turbat, an under construction radio transmission building was damaged extensively. Agitators were also reported to have staged a protest demonstration along the Coastal Highway in Gawadar; and some shops were ransacked in Chaghi.

The anger is spilling over, and the violence has wrecked large parts of Baluchistan, where the mood is to cut off ties and communication with the rest of the country.

The government has ordered the shutting down of all commercial operations at the airport and suspension of railway operations between Quetta and other parts of Pakistan.

So sensitive is the political situation in Baluchistan; that the government has ordered the arrest of several Bugti and Baluch tribesmen.

Last evening, four Marri commanders and about 1,500 rebel tribesmen or Fararis surrendered before the Pakistan military, apparently because they had lost hope after Bugti's death.

According to informed sources, the surrender ceremony took place at Thadri, which is about 100 km away from the Kohlu Hills; the last reported hideout of Akbar Khan Bugti.

The commanders who surrendered included Wadera Gazi Khan Marri, Wadera Bakht Ali Sherani Marri, Kari Khan Marri, Ruba Goryani Marri, Wadera Azeem, alias Bhuda, and Wadera Shamboo Khan Marri.

They were reportedly operating in Bhambor, Hashpur and Dango Khan, and said that they had decided to surrender because they were impressed with its massive development projects being undertaken by the government in the province,.

According to sources, a huge cache of arms and ammunition, including over a dozen 107mm missiles, over 350 Kalashnikov assault rifles, more than 50 rockets and ammunition were handed over to the authorities.

The Anjuman-e-Ittehad Marri, however, dismissed the surrender ceremony as a "farcical" exercise and drama, saying that the arms that were handed over were old 303 rifles, some of them non-functional.

It dismissed the reported surrender of Fararis, saying that they were not militants, but common citizens of Kohlu.

Baluch rebels, they said had no links with Islamist fighters on the Pakistan- Afghan border, and were just interested in securing their self-determined rights.

Analysts say Bugti's killing is likely to inflame the opposition in Baluchistan and could stir nationalist sentiment in the three other provinces against President Pervez Musharraf, who seized power in a 1999 coup.

The rebels have been waging an insurgency for decades for the autonomy and a greater share of profits from Baluchistan's resources. In the last year, they have stepped up their attacks with a string of bloody raids and bomb blasts.

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‘Cluster bombs’ killed Bugti
Official version of cave collapse pooh-poohed
Asia News International

Quetta, August 30
Nawabzada Hyrbair Marri has alleged that cluster bombs were used to kill Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti and other tribesmen in last Saturday’s military operation in the Kohlu Hills.

Rejecting the government’s claims that Nawab Bugti had died because of the collapse of his cave hideout, Marri said the armed forces had targeted him with gunship helicopters and jet fighters.

“The story of the cave’s collapse is a propaganda ruse of the rulers to deceive the people,” Marri was quoted by The Dawn, as saying.

Issuing an appeal to the world media to visit the site of Nawab Bugti’s killing to expose the real truth behind the operation, Marri said Nawab Bugti’s death was planned and not an accident as was being touted by Islamabad.

He was reacting to a statement issued by Major-Gen Shaukat Sultan, Director-General, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), who said Nawab Bugti had not been killed by the Pakistan Army, but in an accident.

Major-General Sultan claimed that the terrain was very rugged and almost inaccessible. He said a tribesman from the Bugti clan, who was guiding law-enforcement agencies, had earlier entered the cave and confirmed the presence of people inside, including Nawab Akbar Bugti.

After sometime, the guide returned to the commanding officer of law-enforcement agencies, who then went inside the cave. During this process, the cave collapsed all of sudden, leaving all inmates of the cave dead, he said.

Maj-General Sultan said the commanding officer had gone into the cave to negotiate with Nawab Akbar Bugti for his arrest as the government had intended to take him into custody. He said there was no confirmation about the presence of any of the kinsmen of Nawab Bugti.

Giving details of the incidents between August 24 and 26, Maj-General Sultan said during the three days of engagement, seven personnel of the law-enforcement agencies were killed, including four officers, one JCO and two of other ranks.

He further said the bodies of the law enforcers were recovered on August 26 and August 27 as they had not covered much distance inside the cave and the rituals were carried out on August 28.

Nawabzada Marri, however, urged the Baluch people to unite in the face of aggression.

IANS adds from ISLAMABAD: In an effort to deflect mounting criticism of its military operation that killed Baluchistan’s separatist leader Nawab Akbar Bugti, the Pakistani authorities are now saying that the cave in which the Baluch leader, was hiding collapsed due to an explosion.

Giving the official version to counter what he called “deliberate disinformation,” Major-General Sultan, Director-General, Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR), said: “A guide was sent into the cave. The moment he came out, the Commanding Officer immediately rushed into the cave along with two other officers and troops. When the officers went inside the cave, a large explosion occurred and the cave collapsed.” He said a Bugti tribe guide accompanying the paramilitary forces confirmed that Akbar Bugti was inside the cave. The guide survived, as he was behind the officers at the time of the cave’s collapse.

“Yes, he (guide) met and spoke to Nawab Bugti,” The Nation quoted Maj-General Sultan as telling the media.

“Nawab Bugti was hiding in a cave that collapsed after a big explosion burying the officers who were entering the cave to talk to Nawab Bugti.” He said a heavy cache of arms had been recovered from the spot besides a box containing an amount of Rs 100 million (About $16,00,000). “Another box contains $96,000 and few papers.” He said it could have been an explosion or firing that caused the collapse of the cave. “We are not sure about it as the people who could have the knowledge were buried under the rubble. Two bodies of the officers were taken out the same evening while the remaining three bodies were taken out on August 27.” To a question, Maj-General Sultan reiterated that probably the officers went inside the cave to negotiate with Nawab Akbar Bugti but the cave collapsed. “Every effort was being made to apprehend him (Bugti) alive and not to kill him.” Giving details of the incident on August 26, near Kohlu, Baluchistan, he said he was unable to confirm the presence of Nawab Bugti’s two grandsons inside the cave.

He said army engineers had carried out a survey of the site and in their opinion the debris could only be removed manually. “Army engineers are prepared to work and the whole process, if started, will likely to take four to five days.”

He said the engineers were sent who carried out a survey of the collapsed cave. In their opinion any use of explosive to remove the rubble was likely to result in the complete collapse of the cave.

“The use of heavy machinery is also highly dangerous as a minor vibration can result into the collapse of the whole structure. There is also no place for heavy machinery to work there,” Maj-General Sultan added.



Two grandsons declare war

Quetta, August 30

The two grandsons of Baluch tribal leader, Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti, Hamdad Bugti and Ali Nawaz Bugti, who were earlier feared dead, have surfaced and established contact with their relatives in Quetta.

After the “ghaibane janaaza”, a funeral conducted without the body, at Ayub Stadium here, both grandsons issued a statement that they would be leading the Baluch people in a war against Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf.

The statement was issued in the presence of a gathering of more than 10,000 persons. The statement further said the Baluch war against Islamabad would be intensified and that it was the “responsibility of each and every Baluch to seek revenge for the murder” of Nawab Bugti.

Both Hamdad and Ali Nawaz Bugti had gone underground with their grandfather earlier this year after the Pakistan Government sought to tighten the noose around rebel Baluch factions, especially the Baluchistan Liberation Army (BLA), which was seen as an anti-development and anti-progress element in Pakistan’s largest, yet poorest province.

The grandsons and Nawab Akbar Bugti shared a very close and affectionate relationship, especially after their father and Bugti’s eldest son, Salal Bugti, was killed by members of the rival Kalpar tribe in June 1992 following an intra-tribal feud that had been simmering for some years.

The situation took a turn for the worse in the early 1990s, when Akbar Bugti allegedly killed Amir Hamza, a son of Kalpar leader Khan Mohammad Kalpar, in May 1992 in Dera Bugti during a local bodies’ election.

The death of Amir Hamza led to the retaliatory murder of Salal Bugti. Ever since, Akbar Bugti’s primary goal was to remove the Kalpars and Masuris (another sub-tribe of the Bugti clan) from the region or to physically eliminate them.

Besides these personal and political factors, the Kalpars had also staked a claim to the Sui gas fields located in their area.

Their demand to be the primary beneficiaries of its royalties had infuriated Akbar Bugti, who was an individual who brooked no opposition to his leadership of the Bugti tribe. — ANI

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