QUETTA, Sept 4: A former National Assembly speaker and two former members of the lower house have held the military government responsible for the disharmony between Punjab and the Baloch people.

Speaking at a press conference at the press club here on Monday, ex-speaker Syed Fakhr Imam and former legislators Syeda Abida Hussain and Syed Zafar Ali Shah called upon the Chief Justice of Pakistan to take suo motu notice of the killing of Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti and hold a judicial inquiry into the matter. Mr Imam said political situation in the country had become worse after the killing of Nawab Bugti.

He said he and Mir Taj Jamali, Sardar Wazir Jogezai, Sardar Sher Balkh Mazari, Elahi Bakhsh Soomro and Gul Aurangzeb had written to President Gen Pervez Musharraf to resolve the Balochistan and Waziristan issues politically, but it had not been done.

He said the killing of Nawab Bugti was another serious incident after the hanging of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, adding that a common Punjabi was perturbed over the killing of the Baloch leader.

Abida Hussain said the Chief Justice of Pakistan should hold a judicial inquiry into the killing of Nawab Bugti to know who were involved in executing the plan and who had ordered it.

Mr Shah said the army rule and Pakistan could not coexist and Gen Musharraf had to be removed from power if the federation was to be saved.