April 2, 2003	Wednesday	Muharram 29, 1424

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ISLAMABAD, April 1: The federal government has directed Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan governments to take effective steps to control tribal feuds in their respective jurisdiction.

The centre has also directed the provinces to initiate inquiry into the recent killings of 12 people in Kashmor district, and send their reports to the federal government, Interior Minister Faisal Saleh Hayat informed the Senate on Tuesday.

The minister said an additional number of Frontier Constabulary had been deployed in the tribal area where the Bugti and Mazari tribes had been fighting against each other for many years.

Talking to reporters, the minister said the Kashmor incident had compelled the government to take stern action against both the tribes.

The feud had assumed such alarming proportions that it had started damaging the national assets. This could not be tolerated, he said.

“We could teach a lesson to both the tribes, but we wanted a political solution of the old enmity,” he said.

The government, he said, had taken serious note of such incidents as gas pipeline blasts and the recent killing of 12 people in Kashmor. The latest incident occurred when Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali was in Balochistan.

Some unofficial reports put the number of dead at 25. However, the minister confirmed the killings of 12 people.

Mr Hayat said the Rangers in Sindh and the Frontier Constabulary in Balochistan had been alerted in the wake of the gory incident.

The government had asked the Bugti and Mazari tribes to hand over the culprits involved in damaging the gas pipelines a couple of months ago.

“The leaders of the two tribes have assured us of handing over the wanted individuals. If they failed to do so, we would catch them by using force,” he warned.