March 23, 2002	Saturday	Muharram 8, 1423

Please Visit our Sponsor (Ads open in separate window).

DERA GHAZI KHAN, March 22: The known Bugti outlaws sometimes back killed yet another Mazari who was abducted for ransom from tehsil Rujhan, district Rjanpur two months back.

Information gleaned by this correspondent revealed Ghulam Nabi Esani was slain by the Bugti outlaws in detention.

It is learnt kidnapping and killing have become a routine in tribal area and its adjacent tehsil Rujhan. The Bugti’s have reportedly been on the rampage in the locality since 1994.

Scores of people had been kidnapped and many released after paying ransom. The Bugti gang had deprived political assistant and SSP of their official jeeps in the past and returned the police official’s jeep in return of money.

In December 2001, it was first of Ramazan when three Jats Qasim, Chandi and Jaapan were kidnapped. On Dec 11, one Karim Bakhsh Jhulan, earlier kidnapped, was released after paying ransom to the Bugti outlaws.

Ghulam Muhammad Rajput, a cloth merchant, was kidnapped in broad daylight from his shop at busy Rujhan Chowk on the Indus Highway on Jan 3, 2002. Later in the month, one Gulrani Mazari was shot dead by the same gang while Ghulam Nabi, 60, kidnapped from Gulan Pir Dargah.

In February, three Gandi Mazaries Haji Shehdad, Ramzan Gandi and Nabi Bakhsh Gandi were killed while Nabi’s son Atta Muhammad and Mureed Husain’s son Akram, 7, were kidnapped the same day.

Reacting to it, Rujhan tehsil Nazim Rafiq Azam Mazari allegedly picked up 10 Bugties, labourers by profession, with the help of police from the Sui Road. The incident gave the situation a shape of tribal feud.

The Bugti labourers were later released. The Bugti culprits released three Gandies including two minors in return.

When contacted, an elderly man of the Mazari tribe told this correspondent that they had no lovelost with Bugties. It is learnt former interim Prime Minister Mir Balukhsher Mazari, Sher Baz Khan Mazari and Saleem Jan Khan Mazari have relationship with Bugti chief Nawab Akbar Khan. The tomb of Nawab Akbar’s father was also built by a Mazari mason.

However, chiefs and administration of tribes in both Punjab and Balochistan have never tried to save lives of the innocent.

Ghulam Muhammad Rajput and three Mazari Jats are still in the captivity of the Bugti culprits. The families of these captives have appealed to President Musharraf, governors of Punjab and Balochistan to get them released.

The body of Ghulam Nabi was sent from the Bugti area on Tuesday. It also brought a fresh wave of insecurity among the poor.

It is about time that the Human Rights Commission (HRC) of Pakistan should take stock of the situation which has day by day been worsening.

A local trader interpret it to be a conspiracy against free flow of investment in the two districts of the south Punjab. Since the Indus Highway had for quite a long been a trap for passersby, he said risk was that all was being done in camera.