QUETTA, Sept 1: Khan of Kalat Mir Suleman Daud Ahmedzai has rejected the government’s claim that Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti was killed in a cave.

He said that the Baloch leader died in a battle with attacking forces.

He said that the government’s hesitation to hand over the body of Nawab Bugti to heirs was because the body had been badly damaged in the battle.

Speaking at a press conference at the Aiwan-i-Kalat here on Thursday, he said the reaction of the Baloch people to the killing had disproved PML chief Chaudhary Shujaat Hussain’s claim that Nawab Akbar Bugti had influence only in Dera Bugti.

He said Governor Owais Ahmed Ghani had claimed that unrest and disturbance were limited only to two tehsils whereas the fact was that Nawab Akbar Bugti’s Ghaibana Namaz-i-Janaza was held throughout the country.

Referring to the statement of President Gen Pervez Musharraf that military operation would be taken to its conclusion, the Khan of Kalat said that the president would also find Baloch people ready to defend themselves.

He said that if the president really believed that 72 chieftains of Balochistan were supporting his policies then he should convene a meeting of tribal elders in order to ascertain their point of view on provincial issues.

When asked if he would convene a meeting of Baloch chieftains on Nawab Bugti’s killing, the Khan of Kalat said that he after consultation with chieftains he would call a tribal jirga to determine future course of action.

Responding to another question, he said that on the one hand Kalpars and Masuris were claiming that they were against the tribal system and on the other they had formed tribal elders’ council.