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QUETTA, Dec 31: The situation in Dera Bugti was calm but tense, as official sources said that there was no untoward incident reported, whereas the Jamhoori Watan Party (JWP) alleged that security forces on Saturday resorted to firing for 30 miniutes.
Activists of the JWP, BNP-M, National Party, PMAP and ANP staged demonstrations outside the press club and chanted slogans against the president, governor, chief minister and federal interior minister.
The protesters were holding placards inscribed with slogans against the military operation in Kohlu and Dera Bugti and construction of the Kalabagh dam.
JWP secretary-general Agha Shahid Hasan Bugti claimed that security forces on Saturday opened fire on houses in the Dera Bugti town for 30 minutes.
He said that in the face of growing hostility from security forces, majority of tribesmen in the Dera Bugti and surrounding areas had shifted to safer places.
Meanwhile, DCO Abdul Samad Lasi told Dawn that the situation in Dera Bugti and Sui remained normal and no firing incident was reported.
He said that the tribesmen who had occupied government buildings and the stadium in the town had started vacating them.
The DCO claimed that Nawab Akbar Bugti had left his residence in Dera Bugti on Saturday and his new abode was not known.
BRIDGE BLOWN UP: A bomb went off in the wee hours on Saturday damaging a large portion of a bridge No. 27P near the Nari gauge on the railway branch line between Sibi and Harnai.
Railways officials said that repair work was underway but rail traffic would remain suspended for four days.
SNOWFALL: The Panjgur area received its first snowfall in three decades and Quetta was in grip of severe cold forcing the people to remain indoors.
The official sources in Panjgur on Saturday told Dawn that the snow started falling at 9.30am which continued till 1pm and after a short break it started again in the afternoon. The elders claim that the last snowfall in Panjgur was recorded in 1970 and now the people were enjoying the snowfall after a long time.
