LAHORE, Aug 30: A few dozen leaders and workers of the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy and the Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaaf offered ‘ghaibana’ funeral prayers for JWP leader Nawab Akbar Bugti here on Wednesday and chanted slogans against President Pervez Musharraf.

Punjab presidents of the PPP and the PML-N, Qasim Zia and Sirdar Zulfiqar Khosa, were prominent among the participants.

Others included PTI’s Admiral Javed Iqbal (retired), Chaudhry Ghulam Abbas, Haji Azizur Rehman Chan, Malik Mushtaq Awan, Zakariya Butt, Tahir Khaleeq, Dr Fakhruddin, Raja Ashfaq Sarwar, Mian Marghoob, Mian Mujtaba, Naseer Bhutta, Dr Asad Ashraf, Muhammad Mehdi, Nawaz Gondal, Rana Nazrur Rehman, Alim Bhatty, Khwaja Izhar, Syed Munir Gilani, Saifuddin Saif and Hameeduddin Mashriqi.

The turnout was as poor as aggressive was the tone of the slogans.

Mr Bugti was the only leader who was resisting the alleged secessionists, said Mr Khosa while talking to reporters after the funeral prayers.

He said the slain JWP leader believed in the solution of all problems through political process and it was for this reason that he had agreed to hold talks with PML leaders Chaudhry Shujaat Husain and Mushahid Husain.

The ‘murder’ of Mr Bugti, he said, was the murder of not an individual but someone who believed in Pakistan’s unity and was holding high the flag of democracy.

About the fallout of the tragedy, the PML-N leader said now the separatists would get encouraged.

He said the rulers were responsible for creating a situation as a result of which Pakistan’s flags were being torched in Balochistan.

He said it was also because of the tragic incidents that Punjabi settlers in Balochistan were having to face the wrath.

He said he was unable to predict the consequences of Mr Bugti’s murder.

He alleged that Gen Musharraf was using the army for his own interests.