KARACHI, Aug 31: Veteran Baloch leader Sardar Khair Baksh Marri has described the killing of Nawab Akbar Bugti as a target killing. In an interview, he said he feared for the life of his own son, Balach Marri, because the government had the ‘mistaken notion’ that Marri was the epicentre of all anti-state and terrorist activities, and Balach Marri was an ‘icon of resistance’.

He also said that it was an untimely ‘mode of resistance’ and the late Bugti should have adopted it in the early days.

Sardar Marri said he was not against Punjabis as a whole but detested the fact that Punjab did not practically endorse the rights and autonomy of smaller provinces.

He accused them of colluding with the ‘establishment’ in usurping the rights of other provinces. About the life and safety of Nawab Bugti’s grandsons, he said that he prayed for their safety and was determined to assist them.

About the committee which had been formed to held talks with Nawab Bugti, he said it was a camouflage to hide the real intentions of the government.

He said that a team had approached President Gen Pervez Musharraf with assurances of holding dialogue with Mr Bugti, but the president backed out because the dialogue would have involved only the JWP chief while others would have stayed out of it without making any commitment.

—Online