January 14, 2006	Saturday	Zilhaj 13, 1426

Please Visit our Sponsor (Ads open in separate window).

MULTAN, Jan 13: Human Rights Commission of Pakistan chairperson Asma Jehangir has said the Red Cross and other international human right organizations should be allowed to visit Dera Bugti to take stock of the situation as war-like conditions are prevailing there owing to the armed confrontation between the government forces and the local tribesmen.

She said evidences on the ground suggested that heavy artillery was being used in the conflict and both the sides were causing serious damage to the life and property. “We were shown exploded shells of shrapnel and bombs both by the Frontier Corps officials and the Bugti tribesmen with a claim that they were fired from the other side,” she added.

The HRCP chairperson, who is also the UN special rapporteur on human rights, was talking to Dawn about her observations during her two-day visit to the troubled Dera Bugti district of Balochistan. She led a delegation of the right activists and journalists to the area on a fact-finding mission.

The delegation met Bugti tribe chief Nawab Akbar Khan, FC’s Col Furqan, DCO Abdus Samad Lassi, the PPL authorities and the public. She said the FC’s inspector general also briefed the delegation on the law and order situation in Dera Bugti on telephone.

She said Dera Bugti was wearing looks of a ghost town. Markets were closed and people were seen leaving the place bag and baggage. Although the government officials claimed that the markets were deliberately closed to show the HRCP delegation that the situation was tense, independent sources had confirmed that the markets in Dera Bugti and Sui towns had been closed since the government had launched the ‘military operation’ in the area from Dec 17.

Asma said first of all the government should admit that the armed conflict between official forces and the tribesmen had been intensified and then it should chalk out a transparent strategy to restore peace in the area. The rights of the local populations over the indigenous resources have been recognized the world over and, thus, the same can not be denied in Dera Bugti, she asserted.

She said the government should immediately start negotiations with the Bugti tribe to settle the ‘disputed’ issues. The government should enter into the dialogue as a party rather than as a monarchic authority. The issue can be resolved through dialogues rather than the barrel of gun, she remarked. Asma said she also tried to get Nawab Bugti convinced that his tribe’s differences with the government could not be resolved through armed struggle. The regular army will eventually win but at the cost of huge losses to the life and property, she maintained.

She said Nawab Bugti was disappointed and an element of bitterness was conspicuous in his conversation with the HRCP delegation. Chaudhry Shujaat and Mushahid Husain were manipulated by the army to deceive the Bugtis, she quoted Nawab Bugti as saying.

The HRCP chairperson said in the backdrop of the ongoing confrontation the Bugti tribe chief was of the view that the government wanted to eliminate him as part of a conspiracy hatched to usurp resources of Balochistan. Nawab’s assertion holds water keeping in view strong presence of the contingents of military and paramilitary forces in Dera Bugti town while there are no strategic assets which needed to be guarded.

She said pipes taking natural gas from wells to the gas plant were seen unattended while heavy deployment of troops was observed at the Pakistan Petroleum Limited compound in Sui. No one can enter the PPL compound without being permitted by the army, she said.

The HRCP chief said residents of the PPL compound told her that the strict security measures had ever been in place when she asked that had the same been taken after the Dr Shazia Khalid episode.

It may be added here that the government had taken stance that someone from outside the PPL compound would be involved in criminally assaulting Dr Shazia when name of a military officer had come forth as the perpetrator.