Speaking at a news conference at the Parliament House cafeteria, opposition leaders belonging to the ARD and the MMA lashed out at the government’s decision of not handing over Nawab Bugti’s body to his family members for a respectable burial.
They said Thursday’s All-Party Conference had announced to hold a public meeting in Quetta on Sept 15, but now it would be held on Sept 17. They termed government’s act of burying Akbar Bugti in Dera Bugti in the absence of his family members as “inhuman, illegal and immoral”. They alleged that the rulers were fanning hatred among the provinces under a planned conspiracy.
PPP’s information secretary Sherry Rehman and MMA’s Hafiz Hussain Ahmed claimed that they had come to know from the Bugti family that PML president Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain had phoned Talal Bugti on Aug 28 and offered to hand him over his father’s body if he guaranteed that the affair would be kept secret. A similar call was received by his brother Jamil Bugti from an army officer, who promised that close relatives of late Nawab Bugti would be provided a special aircraft for his burial. It proved that the government possessed Nawab Bugti’s body from day one, they added.
Liaquat Baloch of the MMA said that the people of Pakistan had expressed their no-confidence in the rulers by observing a complete strike. He said Gen Musharraf had become a security risk for the country as well as for the army. He announced that a meeting of Punjab chapters of all opposition parties would be held in Lahore on Sunday to express solidarity with the people of Balochistan. He urged the chief justice of Pakistan to take suo motu notice of the efforts being made by the government to create anarchy in the country and to pave the way for presidential system of government.
PPP’s Raja Pervez Ashraf said an official of the Dera Bugti administration had clearly stated that no civilian would be allowed to attend the funeral of Nawab Bugti. He criticised Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervez Elahi for issuing controversial statements which, he said, were adding fuel to the fire. He said the chief minister was supporting Gen Musharraf’s actions in Balochistan.
He said the government was changing its version of the events that took place in Kohlu every day. First, it said that Nawab Bugti’s satellite phone had been tracked and he had been killed in a military operation. It was followed by another version according to which an attack on army helicopters had promted a retaliatory attack. Finally, the government said that the cave had collapsed after an unexplained explosion. He said that the changing versions had exposed the government.
Hafiz Hussain Ahmed criticised the government’s move of not handing over Nawab Bugti’s body to his family and said that it was customary to hand over the body of even a murderer to his relatives after his execution but the body of Nawab Bugti was not given to his family. He said that the family members of Nawab Bugti had alleged that army had used napalm and cluster bombs in the Kohlu operation, adding that people were doubtful whether the coffin contained the body of Nawab Bugti.
Tehmina Daultana of the PML-N termed Gen Musharraf ‘the Gorbachev of Pakistan’. She alleged that Gen Musharraf was working on a foreign agenda of the country’s disintegration. She said it was the proper time to quit assemblies.
The press conference was attended by Syed Zafar Ali Shah, Zamarrud Khan, Pervez Malik, Rubina Saadat, Mehreen Anwar Raja, Chaudhry Manzoor, Mian Aslam and Qari Gul Rehman.