QUETTA, Feb 16: About 40 women and children from Dera Bugti on Thursday staged a demonstration here to condemn the ongoing operation and called for immediate halt to hostilities. They alleged that shelling by security forces had damaged their homes.

The protesters assembled outside the press club and chanted slogans against the government and excesses committed by paramilitary forces.

They were led by Rahila Bugti, Izzat Khatoon, Zaid Bibi and a child, Shahbaz Bugti. They held the government and security forces responsible for their misery.

The women asserted that Dera Bugti residents had been displaced because of heavy shelling.

Criticizing the government for what they termed a character assassination campaign against Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti, they said that the JWP leader was being victimized for fighting for the rights of the Baloch people.

Protestors called for immediate withdrawal of security forces from Dera Bugti so that the people of the Bugti tribe could return to their homesteads. They also urged the government to reopen schools in their area.