MULTAN, March 8: The statements of top government functionaries show that there is no urgency in the federal capital with regard to the need for adopting measures to avert attacks on gas pipelines in future.

The main transmission line was first attacked in recent times on Jan 21 near the Mazari Goth village in Rojhan tehsil of the Rajanpur district. The attack resulted in suspension of natural gas supply to the Punjab.

SNGPL engineers and technicians worked against all odds and restored the gas supply on Jan 25. However, saboteurs again blew up the pipelines in the same area the very next day despite the tall claims of the authorities that measures had been adopted to check further attacks on national assets.

While the government took refuge in initial reports that an inter-tribal rivalry between Mazaris and Bugtis was taking toll of the gas pipelines, Nawab Akbar Bugti did not mince words while declaring in his interviews on the print and electronic media that the attacks on gas pipelines had nothing to do with the Mazari-Goth feud and everything to do with disagreements between Bugtis and the oil and gas companies.

When the federal petroleum secretary was asked why the government or the oil and gas companies had not initiated a dialogue with the tribal people to resolve the gas crisis, he said: “There is no calamity (that would necessitate one)”.

Since then, there have been no reports of any effort to resolve the dispute between government and the owners of the land where gas fields are located.

And then came March 1, when the gas pipeline once again came under attack. This time the target was Qadirpur gas pipelines near Ubaro in Sindh. The modus operandi was identical to that of Sui Gas pipeline blasts near Mazari Goth. But again, calm prevails in the official ranks.

In a live talk show on state-run PTV, federal interior minister Faisal Salah Hayat claimed that his government had taken effective steps to check attacks on gas installation (after the Mazari Goth incidents) and now the situation was very much under control.

It was interesting to note that Nawab Bugti’s repeated clarifications that attacks on gas pipelines had nothing to do with inter-tribal warfare, had failed to change the opinion of the government, as the interior minister again reiterated that it was only the Mazari-Bugti clash that was causing disruption of gas supply.

Most misleading was his attitude towards the law and order problem in the troubled area. While claiming that situation there was very much under control, he termed the attacks on law-enforcement agents as ‘stray happenings’.

Three police officials of Rajanpur have been in custody of Bugti outlaws for more than a month, and the authorities are trying to secure their release after paying ransom to the kidnappers.

A Rangers’ man was killed while seven others were injured in a landmine blast while two Mazaris had already fallen prey to deadly landmines despite interior minister’s claim in the TV show that “measures had been adopted to ensure the writ of law”.

The latest report from the area is that police have withdrawn their mobile teams patrolling the Indus Highway in Rojhan area after the latest shootout with highwaymen on Monday that claimed the life of DSP Naved Ikram and a civilian Jamshed Khalid and left eight others injured including four personnel of the Elite Force.

Observers say the government should take the people into confidence as to what is happening on the gas front instead of sweeping the matter under the carpet by terming the situation the result of an inter-trial clash. They suggest that the government should take administrative and political decisions keeping in view the specific conditions of the tribal area to ensure a smooth supply of natural gas as well as the writ of law.