LAHORE, Jan 27: An important leader of the Mazari tribe said on Monday that some criminals were exploiting the situation under the cloak of Mazari-Bugti tribe and the situation would worsen in the days to come if the government did not send paramilitary forces, the Rangers and Baloch levis to the areas where gas pipeline was being repeatedly sabotaged.

Shaukat Mazari, who is the deputy speaker of the Punjab Assembly after being elected from PP-250 (Rajanpur), told a group of reporters on Monday that he would take up the matter with Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi during a meeting with him on Tuesday. Then, he said, he would also approach the prime minister in a bid to set the situation right. He said the government would have to take some strong measures to restore normalcy.

Mazari is in contact with people in Rajanpur and Dera Ghazi Khan districts to keep himself abreast with the latest developments.

In the presence of reporters, he received a call that a deputy superintendent of police had been abducted along with his car. The captors released him after some time, but not the vehicle.

Mazari said there was an urgent need for strengthening local governments of Rajanpur, Dera Ghazi Khan, Jacobabad and Dera Bugti to prevent the situation from deteriorating further. At present, he said, being ill-equipped they were not in a position to deal with the criminals who were kidnapping targeted people in broad-day light.

According to him, there was a reaction among the local people who had not been provided Sui gas although pipelines feeding millions in the Punjab and the NWFP were passing through their areas. Similarly, he said, they felt angry because even ordinary jobs were being given to outsiders, making it difficult for the locals to earn their livelihood.

He rejected suggestions that Mazaris were responsible for whatever was happening in the troubled area. He said his tribe would settle its feuds with the Bugtis according to the tribal traditions without involving itself in any activity which damaged the national assets.