PESHAWAR, Aug 27: The Awami National Party has condemned the killing of Baloch nationalist leader Nawab Akbar Bugti and said such acts of the federal government would pave way for creation of ‘Greater Balochistan’.
Addressing a press conference here on Sunday, the party’s leaders criticised the government for its military operation in Balochistan and announced to observe a protest day on Aug 30 to show solidarity with the people of the province.
“The rulers have deprived us of a great nationalist leader,” said Ghulam Ahmad Bilour, the party’s senior vice president.
“The government should immediately hand over body of the slain leader to his heirs and halt the military operation,” he demanded.
He said the rulers had challenged the country’s nationalist forces by killing Mr Bugti; it was a clear warning to them not to raise voice for their fundamental rights.
“Nationalists are determined; they will not abandon their legal rights despite such acts of the government,” he said, adding that the country’s nationalist forces stood by Baloch people at this critical moment.
Mr Bilour said Nawab Bugti was killed after the ruling Muslim League president Chaudhry Shujaat and general secretary Mushahid Hussain had declared that Balochistan issue had been resolved.
“We ask them why they killed Akbar Bugti when the issue had been resolved,” he said adding that a person with 80 years of age could not even be hanged.
He said that the government should realise that political problems could not be solved by use of gunship helicopters and artillery, adding that the government should learn lesson from the separation of East Pakistan and situation in Iraq and Palestine.
Mr Bilour said that more than 90,000 troops had laid down arms before the Indian army in 1971 and now they (army generals) were repeating the same mistake.
He said that the ANP would observe strike on Aug 30 when protest rallies would be organised in all the 24 districts of the province. In Peshawar, he said, the party’s central president Asfandyar Wali Khan would lead the rally.
ARMY ACTION: Two coalitions of social welfare organisations on Sunday condemned the assassination of Nawab Akbar Bughti and termed it part of a plan to eliminate Baloch people.
According to a press release issued here, an emergency meeting of the Joint Action Committee (JAC) and the Sarhad NGOs Ittehad (SNI) praised the late Baloch leader for his unwavering commitment and dedicated struggle for the Baloch national cause.
The meeting’s participants said that the military establishment was involved in killing Bengalis on a massive scale in 1970-71 and now they were determined to eliminate the Baloch people, adding that it wanted to usurp their natural resources.
Lashing out at the establishment, they said that anyone, who had made contributions to Pakistan, in return, had been penalised. They cited the example of Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan and said that he had been ‘punished’ for making the country a nuclear power, adding that Akbar Bugti, a member of the Royal Balochistan Jirga in 1947, had voted in favour of Pakistan in 1947.
They said that the military establishment, which showed no remorse while surrendering before the Indians and even General Musharraf apologised to Atal Bihari Vajpayee in Katmandu and showed no hesitation in following President Bush’s orders, could only ‘bravely’ crush Pakistani people.