PAKISTAN: Protests continue in the aftermath of the killing of nationalist rebel chieftain in Pakistan

Protests continued in the aftermath of the killing of a nationalist rebel chieftain in Pakistan. Nawab Akbar Bugti, nicknamed the "Tiger of Baluchistan", was killed on Aug. 26 during an assault on his hideout in the remote hills of gas-rich Baluchistan. His death sparked violent protests across Pakistan's poorest and least populated province. Bugti was hastily buried on Friday (September 1) in his hometown in the southwest province of Baluchistan. On Sunday (September 3), about two thousand protesters, backed by Baluchistan's four parties' alliance and other opposition parties, marched through the streets of Quetta, the capital of the southwestern Baluchistan provice. The protesters, chanting anti-government slogans, carried banners, placards and pictures of Bugti, his family and other nationalist Balucl leaders. Sunday's rally was peaceful and no incident of violevce reported. Security was tight in Quetta. There were reports of rallies in the towns of Turbat, Pasni and Khuzdar towns in Baluchistan. Police and paramilitary troops were deployed at government buildings and key intersections in the city, witnesses said. The rally was against the killing of Bugti and the refusal to hand over the body to his family. The 79-year-old rebel, a one time chief minister of the province and a federal government minister, led an increasingly violent campaign to win decades-old demands for autonomy and a greater share of profits from the province's resources. The campaign included attacks on gas facilities, security forces and infrastructure, but it was a rocket attack on a Baluch town during a visit by President Pervez Musharraf last December that made the army launch an uncompromising offensive during which hundreds of people are said to have been killed. Bugti's body was retrieved on Thursday (August 30) from the rubble of a cave where he had been hiding with his most loyal fighters. Samad Lasi, an administrator in Dera Bugti, said the burial was hurried because the body was decomposing. It is Muslim custom to bury the body as soon as possible after someone dies. Jamil Bugti, one of Bugti's five sons, protested that the body was not handed over to the family for burial and said he did not believe his father's body was in the coffin. Officials say Bugti's family were contacted to attend the funeral. But a Muslim cleric who performed the last rites confirmed that the body inside was that of Bugti. The government says Bugti and an unknown number of his men were killed when the cave they were in collapsed after a huge explosion during fighting. The government says security forces did not intend to kill Bugti, but opponents and analysts say they doubt that. Musharraf, who took power after a coup in 1999, has drawn criticism for using overwhelming force to crush Bugti's revolt. An old-style feudal leader who boasted to a biographer that he killed a man when he was just 11 years old, Bugti had many critics. But in a tribal society where pride and courage are highly valued, Bugti burnished his reputation with his defiance. Analysts say Bugti's slaying could inflame opposition in Baluchistan and stir up other parts of Pakistan where resentment of the army and Punjab province's domination have simmered since the country's formation nearly 60 years ago.

ITN Source | September 4, 2006

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