QUETTA: Nawabzada Jamil Akbar Bugti, son of late Baloch nationalist leader Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti, filed an application with an anti-terrorism court (ATC) here on Wednesday, seeking to exhume the body of Akbar Bugti to ensure that it was his father who was buried after he was killed in the mountains of Dera Bugti district during a military crackdown on Aug 26, 2006.

In his application, Nawabzada Bugti asked the court to order that a DNA test be conducted of the body by an international forensics team after the exhumation.

"None of my family members were present in Dera Bugti during his burial."

Bugti said he cannot go to Dera Bugti himself to collect any evidence, and therefore demands that a DNA test be conducted of the body.

In a separate application, Nawabzada Bugti requested the court to summon the members of a parliamentary committee who had met Akbar Bugti following the violence in Dera Bugti in March 2005 in which dozens were killed.

Members of the parliamentary committee including Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, Mushahid Hussain Syed, Sherry Rehman, Sardar Yaqub Nasir, Mir Hazar Khan Bijarani and others should be called to record their statements before the court regarding Akbar Bugti's killing, said the application.

The court accepted Nawabzada Bugti's applicatins and fixed Dec 30 as the date for next hearing.

The ATC also reserved judgement with regards to the application filed by former federal minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao and former provincial home minister Shoaib Nausherwani seeking their acquittal in the Akbar Bugti murder case.

In their application, both former ministers denied having any links with the murder of Akbar Bugti.

Baloch nationalist leader Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti was killed in August 2006 in an explosion in a cave where he had taken refuge during a military crackdown ordered by Musharraf who was president and army chief at the time.

Bugti had led an armed campaign to press for provincial autonomy and a greater share of profits from Balochistan’s natural resources.

The death of the Baloch chieftain had sparked angry protests in parts of the country.

An anti-terrorism court in January earlier this year charged former military ruler Pervez Musharraf, former interior minister and Qaumi Watan Party leader Aftab Ahmed Sherpao and former home minister of Balochistan Mir Shoaib Nausherwani in the Nawab Akbar Bugti murder case, but all of them pleaded not guilty.

Balochistan has been under the grip of violent attacks by Baloch insurgents and Sunni militant groups for more than a decade in which scores of civilians have been killed. The insurgency was exacerbated by the death of Nawab Akbar Bugti.

After Akbar Bugti’s death in 2006, his Jamhoori Watan Party broke into three factions, one of them — the separatist Baloch Republican Party — controlled by his grandson Brahamdagh Bugti, who resides in Geneva.

However, with the formulation of the National Action Plan, security operations in Balochistan have increased in frequency and militants who were previously fighting against the state have started surrendering in substantial numbers, after an amnesty was announced.

Brahamdagh Bugti said in an August interview that he was ready to give up his demand for an independent Balochistan if the Baloch so desired. The government is also engaged in negotiations with the Khan of Kalat, Mir Suleman Dawood.