QUETTA, Sept 26: Nawabzada Talal Akbar Bugti, the chief of his own faction of Jamhoori Watan Party, has announced that the party’s legislators in the Balochistan assembly, Haji Juma Khan Bugti, Mir Saleem Khoso, Mumtaz Shah and Dr Rababa, who met Gen Pervez Musharraf at the Governor House on Tuesday, have been expelled from the party.

Talking to Dawn on Wednesday, the JWP chief said the MPAs had been expelled for violating party discipline and announcing support for Gen Musharraf in the presidential election.

He said that there was no place for opportunists in the JWP. Those who would betray the party would be rejected by the people in the next elections, he added.

Criticising the legislators who had met Gen Musharraf, the JWP chief said those shaking hands with the killers of Nawab Akbar Bugti would be seen as collaborators in the murder.

He said the JWP was in the All Parties Democratic Movement (APDM) and would fully abide by its decisions. He said the party would continue its struggle against dictatorship.

Mr Bugti said the JWP would follow the guidelines of Nawab Akbar Bugti to achieve constitutional rights for oppressed provinces and strengthen democratic institutions in the country.

The JWP chief, in a statement issued here on Wednesday, condemned PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto’s statement that she would take action against militants in the tribal areas of the NWFP and Balochistan after coming into power.