KARACHI, Aug 27: Chairman of the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy Makhdoom Amin Fahim on Sunday castigated the military rulers for killing Nawab Akbar Bugti and his family in a ‘brutal military operation’ in Kohlu on Saturday, and termed it ‘a serious attack on the very foundations of the country’.

Expressing concern over the ‘grave and rapidly deteriorating’ situation, Amin Fahim told a news conference here that “the killing of Nawab Akbar Bugti in a most diabolical manner is yet another charge in the 500-page charge-sheet that the opposition has attached with its no-confidence motion against the prime minister.”

He said that by not opting for a political solution through dialogue and, instead using ‘brutal’ force against the voice of descent, the Musharraf regime had clearly indicated that it had decided to physically eliminate opponents, even at the cost of the country’s integrity.

When his attention was drawn at Gen Musharraf’s remarks against three defiant Baloch Sardars, and asked what he thought could happen to the other two others after Akbar Bugti’s killing, the Makhdoom expressed apprehensions and said the regime was on warpath and not interested in reasoning and dialogue.

He said that due to the ongoing military operation in Waziristan and Balochistan, the country had already been passing through a crisis and the killing of Akbar Bugti had further endangered its territorial integrity.

“It has fully exposed the cruel and anti-rights mindset of General Pervez Musharraf and his henchmen,” said the ARD chief who was accompanied by PPP’s deputy secretary generals Mian Raza Rabbani and Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi, provincial president of the party Syed Qaim Ali Shah and secretary general Nafees Siddiqui, and information secretary Dr Fehmida Mirza (MNA), besides other leaders, including Rashid Rabbani, Rafique Engineer and Afaq Shahid.

“Akbar Bugti had been raising his voice for the rights of Baloch people and killing him for doing so is a criminal act.” He regretted that Nawab Bugti’s grandson and many of his men had also been eliminated.

He said the killing of a former chief minister of Balochistan had thrown up many questions about the integrity of the rulers, and added that the ARD and PPP leaderships were in touch with Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal and Baloch leaders.

A unified strategy in this regard would be worked out in mutual consultations, he said.