RAHIM YAR KHAN: Groups supported by the Indian intelligence agency are involved in the ethnic massacre of the Baloch, said Balochistan Home Minister Sarfaraz Bugti while talking to the media after arriving at the Sheikh Zayed International Airport here on Saturday.

Bugti said 20 labourers had been killed while three injured in a “terrorist attack” in Turbat. He also said Balochistan Finance Minister Mir Khalid Langoo, Information Minister Abdul Rahim Ziaratwala and Spokesperson to the Balochistan Chief Minister Khan Bulaidi had also reached here to participate in the funeral prayers of the killed labourers.

He said his government condemned this “act of terrorism” and that a terrorist group had killed the 20 Pakistanis not an ethnic group. He claimed a terrorist group in Balochistan had received funding and training from “the enemy” and murdered the labourers. He said he wanted to convey a message to the terrorists that his government would chase them and that they would not succeed in dividing Pakistanis.

Answering questions, Bugti said his government was treating ethnic terrorism the same way as sectarian terrorism.

“We want to resolve this conflict through dialogue but if they become violent then we will react,” the minister added.

He further said eight Levies personnel had been arrested who were deputed for the security of the killed labourers. He announced Rs1 million for the family of each deceased person.

Among the labourers killed, 13 belonged to Rahim Yar Khan’s Sadiqabad tehsil.

Published in Dawn, April 12th, 2015

On a mobile phone? Get the Dawn Mobile App: Apple Store | Google Play