MULTAN, Jan 22: The situation in Sui has turned out to be more than just tit-for-tat clashes between the two rival Baloch tribes on the borders of Punjab and Balochistan as reports reaching here revealed that a gas supply line of the SSGPL also was hit by a rocket in the early hours of Wednesday near the PPL airport in Sui.

Sources told Dawn that the Sui Southern Gas Pipelines Limited (SSGPL) supply line was blasted at about 4pm near the airport established by the Pakistan Petroleum Limited in Sui. The damaged portion of the pipe was repaired after several hours.

It was learnt that gas supply to Karachi continued through the ‘attacked’ gas supply line of the SSGPL. The incident was also confirmed from the AC-Zero compression station of Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited.

On the other hand, the damage-repair work on the raptured 24” diameter SNGPL gas supply line was started late on Wednesday night.

However, repairs to the other 30” diameter damaged supply line is likely to be completed on Thursday.

An SNGPL engineer told Dawn that gas supply to Punjab and the NWFP through Sui Northern could only be normalized after repairs to the 280-feet damaged part of both pipes.

Dera range police DIG, Rajanpur district police officer, district coordination officer, and District Nazim visited the troubled spot in Mazari Goth on Wednesday afternoon.

When contacted, Sardar Riaz Mazari, the son of Mazari tribe chief and former caretaker Prime Minister Mir Balakh Sher Mazari, said that the officials’ visit was just an eyewash. He said that such ‘petty’ officers could never resolve the dispute between the Mazaris and Bugtis.

He said that the problem of the enmity between the two tribes started after an armed clash in the jurisdiction of Shahwali police station areas of Rajanpur a few years back.

He claimed that the Sui Northern Gas Pipeline Limited pipes were blasted by a time-bomb planted by the Bugtis.

On Jan 14, a convoy of 4x4 vehicles entered the Mazari area from Dera Bugti and were fired upon in the Mazari Goth. The Bugtis retaliated and retreated to their area.

Later, some Mazari tribesmen severed power supply to the Bugti area by damaging the 28 poles of 130kv in areas that fall in Sindh and Punjab.

Wapda authorities lodged an FIR with the Sindh police; Punjab police allegedly refused to do so.

Wapda spokesman in Rajanpur says that power to the affected area would be restored by Jan 25.

A couple of days ago, water supply to the Bugti area from Punjab had also been ‘mysteriously’ suspended. The Bugtis decided to retaliate, and as a result a large part of the country, including Islamabad, was left without gas.

When contacted, Sardar Sher Ali, nephew of both Mir Balakh Sher Mazari and Nawab Akbar Bugti, held his own tribesmen responsible for the current spate of armed clashes. He termed Mazaris’ attack on the Bugti convoy uncalled for.

Safdar Riaz Mazari, however, said that the Mazaris could not fight the heavily-armed Bugtis who owned missiles (short range) and battery-opera-

ted anti-aircraft guns and mortar guns. “while we in Punjab cannot carry even a 12 bore gun.”

He questioned if it was just the Mazari-Bugti clash why then was the Sui Southern Gas Pipeline Limited supply line hit in the Sui area which was not a Mazari area.

“Unfortunately, my father and Nawab Bugti are not on talking terms,” was his reply when asked why wouldn’t the two chiefs sit together and resolve the dispute.