QUETTA, Jan 10: Security forces took over the Bugti House in Sui and arrested 11 people on Tuesday, officials said. According to reports reaching here, the forces cordoned off the place in the morning by deploying armoured cars and a heavy contingent of army personnel. They asked the employees of Nawab Bugti to vacate the house.
The troops entered the house and arrested the 11 people who were there. No resistance was offered by the employees of Mr Bugti.
“Yes, the Bugti House in Sui was taken over by security forces,” Abdul Samad Lasi, DCO, Dera Bugti, confirmed to newsmen over the telephone and said that criminals had been taking shelter in the house.
He claimed that security forces also found a huge quantity of arms and ammunition in the house and arrested 11 people who were involved in criminal activities.
“The Bugti House, Sui, is not the property of Nawab Bugti. It is owned by the Pakistan Petroleum Limited,” Mr Lasi claimed.
However, sources in the Bugti House refuted the claim of the district coordination officer and said that the house belonged to Nawab Akbar Bugti and the Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL) had nothing to do with it.
“The land on which the house is located belongs to the Bugtis and not the PPL,” they said.
They asked the DCO to produce proof that the PPL owned the house.
JWP SPOKESMAN: Jamhoori Watan Party spokesman Agha Shahid Hasan Bugti said that security forces on Tuesday afternoon started shelling the Dera Bugti town. Tribesmen retaliated by firing rockets which hit the oil depot inside the fort of the Frontier Corps.
He claimed that the security forces started shelling the town at 3:30pm. He said that the shelling was continuing at 7pm when he talked to this correspondent. On Tuesday tribesmen from the town fired rockets on the militiamen.
JWP spokesman said that one of the rockets hit the oil depot of Frontier Corps inside the fort near to the town and added that an intense exchange of firing between the tribesmen and security followed. Answering a question, he said that the security forces did not fire on Monday owing to presence of a delegation of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan in the area and added that after the departure of the team the security forces restarted firing in the afternoon.
Responding to a question pertaining to security forces occupation of Nawab Bugti’s residence in Sui, he said that army personnel had come in vehicles and tank. They surrounded the house and then occupied it forcibly, which was condemnable act. He said that seven servants in the house were also taken custody and added that the HRCP team during its visit to Dera Bugti and Sui had stayed in the house. Answering a question regarding government officials’ claim that the house was the property of PPL, the JWP spokesman said the claim was baseless. Agha Shahid said that on Tuesday afternoon Nawab Bugti told him that the house belonged to him and he had documents to prove it and that the occupation of the house was unlawful.
BNM ACTIVISTS: Baloch National Movement (BNM) activists on Tuesday and held a protest demonstration against the military operation in Kohlu, Dera bugti and Bolan and called upon the United Nation and Human Rights Commission to take notice of the security forces oppression. The protesters held the demonstration outside the Khuzdar Press Club on Tuesday and raised slogans against the government and intelligence agencies.
Advocate of BNM and Qadir Qalandrani of JWP addressed the protesters and announced that Baloch people would continued their struggle against the usurpers.
They claimed that the international community should take notice of the security forces excesses that use aircraft and helicopters against the Balochs. They said that the Baloch had rendered sacrifices during military operations in the past and this time too they would resist the state assault. They condemned what they called firing on the vehicle of HRCP chairperson Asma Jahangir by security forces.
They said that anti-Baloch forces feared that the HRCP team’s visit to Dera Bugti would reveal what was really going on in the region.
