PAKISTAN: Scattered incidents of violence in Karachi after Baluch nationalist rebel leader Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti was killed in fighting with government troops

Tension gripped several areas in Pakistan's southern city of Karachi on Sunday (August 27) a day after the killing of a Baluch nationalist rebel leader. Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti, 79, was killed in fighting with security forces on Saturday (August 26) in what appeared to be one of the biggest battles in years in gas-rich Baluchistan province, where nationalists have been demanding a bigger share of resources. Enraged youth gathered on street at Patel Para, a thickly populated neighbourhood in the eastern part of the city where they burned tyres and hurled stones. Other small incidents were also reported elsewhere in the city. Authorities in Quetta imposed an indefinite curfew and called in troops after violent protests followed the killing of the rebel leader. Politicians and analysts said the death of Bugti, a former chief minister of Baluchistan, was likely to inflame opposition to the government in Pakistan's biggest but poorest province. Baluchistan, the most thinly populated of Pakistan's four provinces, has the country's main natural gas reserves as well as deposits of copper and uranium. Baluch nationalists have long complained the province does not get a fair share of the profits from resources and they have been agitating for autonomy for years. Government officials involved with security said more than 20 members of the security forces and nearly 40 rebels had been killed in the fighting in which Bugti was killed. The military only confirmed the death of four officers and one soldier in the fighting in the province's Kohlu district. Bugti was a former chief minister of the province of deserts and mountains. With a shock of white hair and a white handlebar moustache and beard, he was for years one of Pakistan's most distinctive politicians, and was well respected in Baluchistan. He went underground early this year, joining rebels who have stepped up attacks on infrastructure, including gas pipelines, as well as security posts over the past year. Security forces have responded with a series of offensives although many Baluchis and other Pakistanis, including rights activists and politicians, have deplored the violence and called for talks.

ITN Source | August 27, 2006

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