KARACHI: APC calls for popular movement to oust rulers
By Our Staff Reporter
KARACHI, Aug 30: Condemning the killing of Baloch nationalist leader Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti, the all-parties conference held here on Wednesday under the auspices of the Jamaat-i-Islami called for an immediate halt to the military operation in Balochistan.
It also called for a debate in the National Assembly on the Balochistan issue in the light of the recommendations of the parliamentary committee, set up to find a political solution to the same.
The rulers on the touchstone of right to rule had failed, it declared, and demanded Gen Musharraf to step down immediately.
The APC, held at the JI’s Karachi office, Idara Noor-i-Haq, passed several resolutions, one of which said that Nawab Bugti was eliminated in an incident of target killing. The conference was presided over by Prof Ghafoor Ahmed, Naib Amir of the JI.
Speaking on the occasion, over a dozen leaders of various parties eulogised the services rendered by Nawab Akbar Bugti.
In his presidential remarks, Prof Ghafoor said: “Nawab Bugti’s martyrdom is the darkest chapter of the history of Pakistan. He said the purpose of holding the APC was to tell people of Balochistan that the whole nation shared with them this moment of grief and shock. He said Nawab Bugti was a patriot politician whose party had representation in the Senate, the National Assembly, and the Balochistan Assembly.
Prof Ghafoor noted that by eliminating Nawab Akbar Bugti, the rulers had put the solidarity, integrity and even survival of the country in jeopardy. He recalled that the military rule in 1971 had led the country to dismemberment and today again, the military rulers were about to repeat the history by pursuing the same policies.
Deploring Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz for not even making mention of Nawab Bugti’s assassination during his long speech in parliament on Tuesday, the JI leader remarked that the premier had no political background and that he had succeeded in holding the office because of Gen Musharraf’s patronage.
He appealed to the masses to make the Sept 1 nationwide strike a success in order to get the country rid of the military rulers.
Speaking at the conference, Prof N. D. Khan said that the Supreme Court should have taken suo motu notice of Nawab Bugti’s assassination and ordered registration of an FIR against Gen Musharraf so that the fact leading to the incident could have come to light.
Dr Mairajul Huda Siddiqui claimed that Nawab Akbar Bugti had been killed with a laser-guided missile. He regretted that the disturbances sparked off by the killing had claimed more than 40 lives in just a few days while Balochistan was still on fire.
Rashid Rabbani of PPP, Zain Ansari of PML-N, Zubair Khan of PTI, Shahi Syed of MMA, and many other opposition leaders, including Maulana Omar Sadiq, Osman Baloch, Nihal Hashmi, Mohammad Afzal Sardar, Comrade Hasan Sammu, Syed Kausar Hussain Zaidi, Qamar Bhatti, Basharat Mirza, Siddique Rathor, Sher Mohammad Baloch and Shahnawz Siddiqui, spoke at the conference.
They said that by eliminating Nawab Akbar Bugti, the rulers had endangered the integrity of country. They stressed on granting maximum autonomy to all federating units and constitutional rights to the provinces on their resources, saying that this was the only way to ensure the country’s survival.
However, the speakers said that a popular movement would have to be launched to force the military rulers to hand over powers to a truly elected civilian dispensation and to ensure that no military intervention in the country’s political affairs was resorted to in future.
The APC, through a resolution, asked the rulers to hand over body of Nawab Bugti to his legal heirs, who should also be allowed to lodge an FIR of the incident.
