QUETTA: The authorities have taken into custody, till late tonight [Dec 3], 102 armed persons belonging to the Bugti tribe to prevent breach of peace in Quetta town. With these arrests, almost all the Bugtis who had yesterday tried to force the Provincial Finance Minister, Mr Ahmad Nawaz Bugti, to resign, are now in custody. Of the arrested tribesmen, 72 surrendered before the district authorities. … The situation remained under complete control, and no untoward incident took place. Troops, along with the civil armed forces, were standing by to render full assistance to the Provincial Government. — Staff Correspondent

[Meanwhile, as reported by our Staff Reporter in Karachi], Mr. Ghaus Bux Bizenjo, Governor of Baluchistan, yesterday [Dec 3] declared that there was no breakdown of law and order in the province. Speaking at a reception here last evening, he said “if there was anything serious, I would not have been addressing you here,” and added that both the Governor and Chief Minister of Baluchistan would not have been in Sind. He also denied reports of the alleged kidnapping of 50 women by Marri tribesman. He said: “You will never find even a single incident of kidnapping of women by a Baluch in the 1,000-year history.”

Published in Dawn, December 4th, 2022