August 30, 2007	Thursday	Sha'aban 16, 1428

QUETTA, Aug 29: A group of women of the Marri tribe has accused law-enforcement agencies of raiding their homes in the Kahan village and harassing them and appealed to the apex court and the Balochistan High Court to take notice of the incident.

In a statement issued here on Tuesday, 10 women of the tribe said that dozens of vehicles of intelligence agencies and security forces surrounded their village at midnight on August 26, carried out house-to-house search and took 32 youths into custody.

They accused the security personnel of insulting people and harassing family members, including women, during the raid. They said it was not the first time that their homes had been raided, adding that they had been suffering under such unlawful acts for the last three years.

The arrested men included Shah Ali Marri, Samand, Sohaib, Pir Muhammad, Ismail, Qurash, and Jamil, the statement said.

They appealed to the Chief Justice of Pakistan and the Balochistan High Court to take notice of the excesses and urged human rights organisations to take up the matter.

SHAHZAIN BUGTI SHIFTED: The Nasirabad district administration is reported to have shifted Shahzain Bugti, son of Nawabzada Talal Akbar Bugti, chief of his own faction of Jamhoori Watan Party, from Dera Murad prison to Mach central jail.

Shahzain Bugti and 10 other Bugti tribesmen have been on hunger strike for three days in Dera Murad jail in protest against their non-presentation in a court, not taking up of their bail applications and restrictions placed on their relatives over meeting them, sources said on Tuesday.

Mr Shahzain and others were sent to the Mach prison and their trail would begin inside the jail within the next two days, the sources added.