QUETTA, Aug 29: Thousands of people attended the Ghaibana Namaz-i-Janaza of Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti in the cricket ground of the Ayub Stadium here on Tuesday.
Youths raising slogans against the state and Gen Pervez Musharraf smashed windowpanes of the gallery of the stadium and damaged a portrait of Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah.
Some of them protested against the presence of some leaders of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League in the ground, prompting organisers to issue an advice on loudspeakers that all PML men should leave the place.
City District Nazim Mir Maqbool Lehri and Chiltan Nazim Mir Ismail Lehri, who belong to the ruling PML, left the ground.
A group of protesters hurled stones on former chief minister Mir Taj Muhammad Jamali who was in the VIP lounge.
A group of people tried to attack Mr Taj Jamali and Mr Feroz Lehri while they were leaving the ground before the funeral prayer but activists of the Jamhoori Watan Party (JWP) and Balochistan National Party-Mengal protected them. Some of the activists suffered injuries.
The leader of JWP’s parliamentary party in the Balochistan Assembly, Haji Juma Bugti, was not allowed to enter the ground for having attended an anti-Akbar Bugti jirga.
Funeral prayers were held smoothly after the departure of PML members. Maulana Abdul Aziz led the prayers.
Later, spokesmen of the JWP and BNP-M complained that police had barred thousands of mourners coming from Khuzdar and Nushki from attending the prayers.
The four-party Baloch Alliance said that funeral prayers were also offered in different districts of the province.
Those who attended the prayers included Nawabzada Jamil Bugti and Nawabzada Talal Bugti, sons of Nawab Akbar Bugti; Sardar Ataullah Mengal, former National Assembly speaker Ilahi Bakhsh Soomro, Mohammed Aslam Bhootani, deputy speaker of the Balochistan Assembly; Dr Hayee Baloch of the National Party, Mir Humayun Marri and Senator Shahid Hasan Bugti of the JWP, Senator Nawab Ayaz Khan Jogezai of Pushtoonkhwa Milli Awami Party, Sardar Sanaullah Zehri, chief of Jhalawan; Sardar Akhtar Mengal of BNP-M, Arbab Zahir Kasi of Awami National Party, Mir Sher Ali Mazari, Allama Yaqoob Tawasoli, Jamal Jogezai of PPP, Hakim Lehri of BNC, Moheem Baloch of BNP-A, former provincial governor Amirul Mulk Mengal, Sardar Bakhtiar Domki, grandson of Nawab Bugti, and Mir Hasil Bizenjo.
AFP adds: Police contingents ringed the stadium and troops were standing by on alert, witnesses said.
“It is a big tragedy. Bugti has become a legend,” 22-year-old clan member Dad Mohammad said. “He fought for the rights of ethnic Baloch. He has set a course for the Balochs — it is now up to the people,” said another tribesman.