HYDERABAD, Dec 25: The Bugti tribesmen loyal to the late Nawab Akbar Bugti, who were forced to leave their homes in Dera Bugti in the wake of his standoff with the Musharraf government in March 2005, do not see any chance to return to their abodes in the near future.

An estimated 70,000 people fled their homes and sought refuge in Dera Ghazi Khan, Rajanpur, Jaffarabad, Naseerabad, Jacobabad, Hyderabad, Thana Bulla Khan, Mirpurkhas, Sanghar and even Karachi.

“I live in shabby conditions in Jamshoro and crush stones to eke out a living for my family,” Peerok Nusani Bugti told Dawn. He said his family had to go without food often.

“You can't realise what a terrible life we have been leading for the past six years,” he said, adding he had to leave Dera Bugti out of fear that there would be a war in the area.

Peerok Bugti said he was a financially stable man. “I had land and I also did other jobs to earn a decent living.”

Peerok was part of a group of Bugti IDPs who protested against denial of fundamental rights outside the press club here the other day. They all had similar stories to share.

They expect the government to offer them some kind of help. Most of them are daily wage-earners.

“Most Bugti IDPs belong to middle class families. Their self respect prevents them from queuing up for Watan Cards offered to flood victims last year,” said a journalist Abul Khaliq from Balochistan who covered the IDPs issues.

The IDPs alleged their houses and other properties had been occupied by rivals of Nawab Bugti and they continued to pay a price for being his loyalists.

After fleeing Dera Bugti they made tried to settle down in Dera Murad Jamali, but had to move to Hyderabad and other areas of lower Sindh because there were no opportunities of livelihood there.

“The chiefs of Masori, Shambani and other branches of Bugti tribe don't want us to return because we were loyal to late Nawab,” said Shah Nawaz Bugti of Pir Koh, Dera Bugti.

He claimed that their houses had been destroyed. “Nobody is ready to own us now. The tribal elders who have occupied our land don't let us return. They say that we are terrorists.”

According to Shah Nawaz, after every insurgent activity in the area during the Musharraf era, police would arrest members of their tribe and force them to migrate, he said.

A statement distributed among journalists recalled that when Mir Ali Bugti, grandson of Nawab Bugti, returned to Dera Bugti in April 2009 the IDPs returned, too, to rebuild their houses.

The government also announced a Rs1 billion package for IDPs, but in the meantime Mir Ali left the area for good in March last year, the statement said.

It said the government had handed over Dera Bugti to Ghulam Qadir Masori and left the Bugtis at his mercy and that of other so-called tribal elders. “Since we considered ourselves insecure we migrated again,” said Shah Nawaz.

He complained that they were not being considered for the federal government's grant of Rs1 billion for resettlement of Bugti IDPs because Dera Bugti was a no-go area for them. Lists had been prepared and submitted to the deputy commissioner by Nov 30.

The promised compensation, according to the tribals, is being given away by the administration to its favourites and not to genuine IDPs.