PESHAWAR, Aug 29: The Pukhtun Students Federation has staged a demonstration in protest against the killing of Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti in a military operation in eastern Balochistan on Saturday.

The protesting students burnt an effigy of President Pervez Musharraf outside the Peshawar Press Club and held him responsible for the killing of Nawab Bugti and his tribesmen in the security forces’ operation.

They were carrying placards inscribed with slogans paying tribute to Nawab Bugti for his struggle for the rights of Baloch people. They chanted slogans against the military rulers and their civilian partners.

Speaking to the protesters, PSF provincial president Said Alam Khan condemned what he called the targeted killing of Nawab Bugti who had sacrificed his life for the rights of his people. He said if struggling for the political rights of a people was rebellion, every nationalist was a traitor.

He alleged that the military rulers had become a threat to the integrity of the country and military dictators had always brought sufferings and tragedies for both the masses as well as the country.

He said only a real democratic set-up could protect the country from adventurers.

He said his organisation was affiliated with the Awami National Party and it would endorse every decision taken by the ANP on the tragic Bugti issue.

He appealed to democracy-loving elected representatives to tender their resignation from the national and provincial assemblies and Senate, which had failed to settle the Balochistan and Waziristan issues.

He said that the existence of the country was linked with the restoration of true democracy and the rule of law in the country.

He condemned “the dual role” of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) over the killing of Nawab Bugti. He said the MMA was part of the Balochistan coalition government, which was involved in the killing of Nawab Bugti.

The students also distributed pamphlets, criticising the killing of Nawab Bugti and his tribesmen and the continuing military rule in the country.

Earlier, talking to journalists at the Peshawar Press Club, Pakistan People’s Party Parliamentarians provincial General-Secretary Najmuddin Khan condemned the killing of Nawab Bugti and said Pakistan had lost a brave politician in the person of Nawab Bugti.

He said the Alliance for Restoration of Democracy had arranged funeral prayers of Nawab Bugti at 1:30pm at the Qasim Ali Khan Mosque on Wednesday.

He asked democratic forces to attend the prayers and pay tribute to the late Baloch leader.