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| September 04, 2006 | Monday | Sha'aban 10, 1427 |
‘Foreign forces aiding anti-state elements’: Durrani issues 13-page fact-sheet
ISLAMABAD, Sept 3: Information Minister Mohammad Ali Durrani on Sunday justified the killing of Nawab Akbar Bugti and said that the Baloch leader had chosen the road of militancy by closing all political options.
His extremist views were disowned even by his own Bugti tribe who isolated him and forced him to go to Kohlu where he eventually met his fate, Mr Durrani told reporters here.
The minister was of the view that the rising number of Indian Consulates in Afghanistan and their activities were jeopardising the ongoing peace process between India and Pakistan.
In a bid to destabilise Pakistan, he said, some foreign forces were providing all kinds of resources, wealth and arms to strengthen anti-state elements and a large quantity of arms, ammunition and narcotics was pouring in from Afghanistan into Balochistan.
He brushed aside an impression that any separatist movement was brewing in Balochistan and said that some elements against whom Nawab Bugti had conducted an operation in 1973 were playing politics over his body.
Mr Durrani said that country’s sovereignty would never ever be compromised and all steps would be taken to establish the writ of the state.
He said that Akbar Bugti had stopped travelling to Islamabad during the days Nawaz Sharif was in power. In 1996, former interior minister Naseerullah Khan Babar had also conducted an operation in Dera Bugti and Sui.
The minister also issued a 13-page fact-sheet, “Atrocities against humanity in Balochistan”.
“Having strong feudal background and oppressive domination, a few tribal chieftains — Akbar Khan Bugti, Khair Bakhsh Marri and Attaullah Mengal — are the most prominent of these having terrorist outlook,” it said.
It contains a long list of what it called “Terrorist activities of Akbar Bugti and his associates”.
It said that Akbar Bugti by utilising the money collected through illegal means (corruption, blackmailing, narcotics trade and arms smuggling) created his own empire. He organised his own mafia of terrorists to coerce local civilians. He maintained a private jail where he detained opponents and poor people illegally, for terms varying between five and 25 years. The average strength of prisoners in his jail used to be 150 to 200. He had his own court in Dera Bugti where he was the self-appointed judge.
Since 1992, the fact-sheet said, 60 people were murdered by Akbar Bugti and his terrorists.
It said that countless incidents of sabotage had been committed by Akbar Bugti and his terrorists.
The fact-sheet lists similar activities of Khair Bakhsh Marri, Balaach Marri, Hayerbiar Marri, Ghazain Marri and Zamran Marri and said they were also involved in attacking and killing three Chinese and injuring five Chinese and two Pakistanis on May 3, 2004, at Gwadar. They also attacked Chinese on October 15, 2005, near Talar Camp, injuring the driver of the vehicle.
Likewise, it said, Akhtar Mengal and his associates were involved in numerous acts of bomb blasts, mine blasts, rocket firing and attacks on security personnel, railway infrastructure, gas pipelines and electricity transmission lines from 2004 to 2006, killing 870 people.
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