LAHORE, Aug 29: The Lahore High Cour t Bar Association on Tuesday requested the chief justice of Pakistan to constitute a judicial commission to probe into Kohlu operation in which Nawab Akbar Bugti, his men and several army officers and ‘jawans’ were killed.

The judicial commission, a unanimously adopted bar resolution said, was an imperative under the present circumstances, and also in the best national interest which demanded that responsibility of the operation in Kohlu should be fixed and offenders subsequently arrested and proceeded against under the law.

Such a step was necessary to ensure that integrity of the country remained intact, the resolution added.

Through the resolution, adopted by the bar’s general body meeting, the LHCBA implored the Supreme Court to take a suo moto notice of the ‘tragic’ incident, which, it said, had endangered the already fragile federation.

It said the issue of the Bugti area was purely a political issue, which the resolution said, rulers had chosen to suppress by `brute’ army action in which even gunship helicopters were used.

The incident would leave an adverse impact on the political scene in the country, besides further alienating Balochistan people from the national affairs, it said.

The resolution, moved by advocate Rana Asadullah Khan, also demanded the resignation of Gen Pervez Musharraf, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and Information Minister Mohammad Ali Durrani. It aslo called for setting up of a government of national consensus under the aegis of the Supreme Court to hold general elections and transferring power to the elected representatives of the people.

Expressing solidarity with Balochistan people, the resolution said that political parties were under an obligation to wage a struggle to ensure that the socio-economic conditions, particularly in the smaller federating units, were improved, the constitutional provisions guaranteeing provincial autonomy and people’s right to the resources of their respective provinces was accepted and granted.

All the speakers demanded registration of an FIR against President Gen Musharraf under the offence of `murdering the Baloch leader and his tribesmen, along with army people’

Former federal minister S M Masood, former LHCBA president Ahmad Awais, PML-N Lawyers Forum leader Naseer Ahmad Bhutta, ARD leader Syed Manzoor Ahmad Gilani, PLF Punjab president Raja Zulqarnain, Abdur Rashid Qureshi, Allah Bakhsh Gondal, Wali Mohammad Khan and LHCBA finance secretary Rabbiya Bajwa lashed out at the government for conducting the operation, and denying rights to Baloch people.

The speakers also urged the MMA to quit the Balochistan coalition government. They alleged the alliance’s policy had contradictions as it supported the no-trust move against the prime minister on one hand and was clinging to the government in the ‘troubled’ province.

Calling Nawab Akbar Bugti’s killing `a ghastly act’, they termed it another political murder after Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s.