| Article title: |
Nawab Akbar Bugti was killed in an ‘encounter’ with security forces |
| First posted: |
Thu 21 Sep 2006 |
| Description: |
The federal minister of state for interior, Zafar Iqbal Warraich, made a Freudian slip on Tuesday when he told the Senate that Nawab Akbar Bugti was killed in an ‘encounter’ with security forces. Not only is his statement a major shift from the government’s earlier claim that Bugti was killed when his cave hideout collapsed in a mysterious self-generated explosion, it also serves to put many pieces of the puzzle together. This is what Mr Warraich was reported as saying: “Sabotage activities and attacks on national installations had been going on in the [Balochistan] area. The security forces have been countering these attacks and Bugti was killed in an encounter with security personnel. It was an incident for which we feel sorry and... are ready for a DNA test of Bugti’s body as demanded by the opposition.” A reconstruction of the story on the basis of this statement may be helpful. |
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Article text:
Balochwarna had termed the so called Cave Story a Drama on the very first day and we still believe that Nawab Bugti was killed during the feirce fighting with enemy forces. This Editoreal proves that the Govt has been lying about Nawab Bugti's death and are still lying.
EDITORIAL: And now we have another story on Nawab Bugti’s killing...
The federal minister of state for interior, Zafar Iqbal Warraich, made a Freudian slip on Tuesday when he told the Senate that Nawab Akbar Bugti was killed in an ‘encounter’ with security forces. Not only is his statement a major shift from the government’s earlier claim that Bugti was killed when his cave hideout collapsed in a mysterious self-generated explosion, it also serves to put many pieces of the puzzle together. This is what Mr Warraich was reported as saying: “Sabotage activities and attacks on national installations had been going on in the [Balochistan] area. The security forces have been countering these attacks and Bugti was killed in an encounter with security personnel. It was an incident for which we feel sorry and... are ready for a DNA test of Bugti’s body as demanded by the opposition.” A reconstruction of the story on the basis of this statement may be helpful.
After being pushed out of Dera Bugti by the incessant attacks of the FC, Nawab Bugti moved into the Marri area near Kohlu early this year. The armed opposition to the government basically comes from the Marri tribe. Even by official accounts, Balach Marri, son of Nawab Khair Baksh Marri, is the alleged commander of the Balochistan Liberation Army. Could it be that the security forces closed in to capture Balach Marri and Brahamdagh Bugti, Akbar Bugti’s nephew, and in an attempt to do so ended up killing Nawab Bugti instead? If this was the case, then the narrative fed to the media — domestic and international — by the army was an exercise in dissembling. It would make sense because if Mr Bugti was not the prime physical target the government must have been caught on the wrong foot. The initial estimates of what happened were also exaggerated and it was only later that the government realised that it was left holding only Nawab Bugti’s dead body and Balach Marri and the Nawab’s grandsons had made good their escape.
In its haste, it announced that the Nawab had been killed along with his grandsons and Balach Marri. This is why at the time it also offered to hand over the body to the Nawab’s sons. Two developments seem to have forced it into lying about the whole episode from that point onwards. It realised that Balach Marri and the Nawab’s grandsons had managed to slip away; two, the backlash to the news was unexpected. It therefore put out the story about the mysterious blast and the fact that Nawab Bugti’s body was lying under a boulder, which it wasn’t. But once this under-the-boulder story had been circulated, the government could not let anyone see the body. That led to the entire controversy over the body and how and why it was brought in a sealed coffin to Dera Bugti and buried. This would also explain the shiny spectacles and wristwatch of the Nawab who had reportedly lain buried under the boulder for nearly five days.
There are cobwebs still and there may be loopholes even in this account. The essential fact to note, however, is that the entire story reeks of lies piled upon lies to a point where no one believes the government’s version on anything. This is now true of almost every step the government has taken in many similar instances, the handling of the Hudood laws being yet another example of double-speak and double-dealing. *
http://dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2006\09\21\story_21-9-2006_pg3_1 |
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