April 03, 2008	Thursday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 25, 1429

QUETTA, April 2: The Baloch people will lay down their arms only after they achieve their rights and Balochistan gains complete autonomy, according to Nawabzada Talal Akbar Bugti, chief of his own faction of the Jamhoori Watan Party.

In a statement issued here on Tuesday, he regretted that Prime Minister Gillani had made his offer for negotiations conditional to the laying down of arms and said that the Baloch people had been forced to take up arms following continuous denial of rights. He said that the rulers had time and again ‘apologised’, but no one ever agreed to give the Baloch people their rights.

Urging the prime minister to take bold and direct action, he said that instead of offering apologies, he should bring the killers of Nawab Akbar Bugti, Balach Marri, Benazir Bhutto and thousands of Baloch people to justice, adding that if he failed to do so he would not be forgiven by the nation and history.

Nawabzada Bugti said that if the government took action, Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, Mushahid Hussain, Shiekh Rashid Ahmed, Jam Yousuf and former Balochistan Governor Owais Ghani would be ready to appear as witnesses against their ‘former boss’.

He said that instead of asking the Baloch people to lay down their arms, the prime minister should stop the military operation in Balochistan and recall security forces. He said that tribesmen weapons were ornaments for tribal people and there could be no question of their surrendering them.

Stressing the need for practical steps, he said that issues of Balochistan could not be settled by lip service alone.