ISLAMABAD, Jan 12: Interior Minister Aftab Sherpao has said that the federal government will take all necessary steps, including deployment of troops, to protect gas installations in the Sui area.

Speaking at a press conference here on Wednesday, the minister said that it was up to the provincial government what sort of help it needed from the Centre. The government, he said, would not take a suo motu action in Sui, rather it would act according to the demands of the provincial government for maintenance of peace and security of sensitive installation in the area.

Responding to a question about the identity of people involved in the attack on gas installations, Mr Sherpao said that he could not reveal their identity as it could hamper the ongoing dialogue process between nationalist parties of Balochistan and the government.

However, he added: "The Bugtis are involved in the attack as most of the bullets were fired from the house situated next to the residence of Nawab Bugti." The minister said that gas supply to various parts of the country would remain suspended following the attack on a gas processing plant.

He said the law-enforcement agencies had exercised restraint and did not retaliate, otherwise it could lead to a disaster. In view of the situation, about 70 per cent of people in the nearby localities had shifted to other places, he said.

Giving details about the attacks, he said they started from Jan 7 and continued till Jan 11 in which three personnel of the Defence Security Guards, two guards of the Frontier Corps and four civilians died.

Mr Sherpao said armed men continued firing from residential colonies located around the gas plant and used people of these areas as human shields. "About 14,000 rounds of small arms, 436 mortar fires and 60 rockets were used by miscreants during the attack."

The miscreants, he said, had occupied tower Nos. 10 and 11 of the plant when they entered the plant from gate No. 5. However, the FC personnel succeeded in regaining the control of both the towers.

"The writ of the government in the area has been restored and stern action would be taken against those who wanted to destabilize the situation in supply from the Sui field would be restored in the next couple of days, Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL) Managing-director Munsaf Raza said on Wednesday, adds APP.

"Our staff has arrived at Sui and it would start repairing all damaged pipelines soon," he told APP. Mr Raza said the main plant had remained safe but some high pressure pipelines outside the plant were damaged as a result of firing of rockets by anti-social elements on installations.

He said the temporary closure of the plant had led to decrease of 460 million cubic feet of gas to Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL)'s distribution network while 110 million cubic feet of gas to Sui Southern Gas Pipelines Limited (SSGPL).

Meanwhile, talking to Pakistan Television, Sui Northern Gas Pipeline Limited (SNGPL) Managing-Director Rashid A. Lone asked gas consumers to cooperate with the company in gas load management.

He said the gas supply to power plants and fertilizer factories was being cut to ensure uninterrupted gas supply to domestic and commercial consumers. To a question, he said the gas supply across the country would continue without interruption, especially for domestic consumers.

Sui Southern Gas Pipeline Limited (SSGPL) Managing-director Munawwar Ahmed said the company had made necessary arrangements to cope with the shortage of gas. "Under Emergency Response System, we have curtailed gas supply to some power plants and cement industries to ensure smooth gas supply to domestic consumers."

Clarification