HYDERABAD: Jamhoori Watan Party general secretary Rauf Khan Sasoli has accused the OGDC and PPL of trying to stir bloodshed in Dera Bugti, Sui and adjoining areas to continue the loot and plunder of the Bugti areas.

Speaking at a news conference at the local press club, he said that the companies were trying to frustrate the efforts of JWP president Aali Salim Bugti to rehabilitate the Bugti tribesmen who had fled the area during disturbances. He alleged that the officials of the companies had conspired with the previous government to destroy Dera Bugti.

Mr Sasoli said he had recently undertaken an extensive tour of Balochistan during which he noted that the situation in the province had not changed. The killers of Nawab Akbar Bugti had not been arrested and the wounds (of Baloch people) had not healed, he said.

Despite the prevailing volatile situation, he said, Mr Aali was making efforts to rehabilitate the internally displaced persons who had fled from the Sui areas.

He regretted that tens of thousands of Bugti IDPs had not been rehabilitated as the government was neglecting them.

Besides, the JWP leader alleged, the gas companies were trying to create hurdles in the rehabilitation of the IDPs and hatching conspiracies to create bloodshed.

He warned that if the situation worsened in Dera Bugti and Sui, the officials of the gas companies and the government would be responsible for the consequences. “Now is the time for the government to nip any trouble in the bud,” Mr Sasoli said.

He said that the political parties had failed to identify and solve the problems of Baloch people, adding that the Pakistan Muslim League-N chief Nawaz Sharif had been talking about national consensus but was playing host to a member of the Bugti family, Shahzen Bugti, who, according to Mr Sasoli, did not represent the Baloch people.

He said that Mr Sharif should not talk to an individual on the Balochistan issue but to the real representatives and parties of Balochistan.

Mr Sasoli said that the late Nawab Akbar Bugti was not only a leader of the Baloch people but also a national asset and his assassination was a national tragedy.

He said that Nawabzada Jamil Akbar Bugti had filed a petition about the assassination of his father in the court and urged the political parties and Mr Sharif to support Mr Jamil in this regard.