Nawab Bugti

Islamabad, Sept. 3 (PTI): Stepping up the agitation over the killing of rebel tribal leader Akbar Bugti in an army raid, the four-party Baluch alliance today announced resignations of its members from parliament and Baluchistan assembly.

In continuing unrest in Baluchistan, a bomb damaged a gas pipeline in the mountainous area of Lakpass south of capital Quetta, cutting supplies to thousands.        

Bugti’s son Jamil said a wrist watch, ring and glasses showed by the officials as belongings of the slain leader were not that of his father’s, prompting the government to offer to conduct a DNA test.        

The resignations of Baluch parties were announced at a protest rally held in Quetta by the alliance in association with the mainstream Alliance for Restoration of Democracy. Similar rallies were held in all major towns in the province.

Protestors shouted slogans against President Pervez Musharraf and the Pakistan Army as well as against the domination of Punjab.

The Baluch alliance that includes Jamhoori Watan Party, which was headed by Bugti, has one senator and one member in the national assembly and two in the provincial one.

Musharraf today discussed a package of incentives for the province with top ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Q politicians and other officials.

Four retired army generals have backed opposition criticism of Musharraf’s handling of the crisis in Baluchistan.

Former army chief Aslam Beg slammed him, saying: “It was an ill-conceived idea and badly-handled operation to capture an 80-year-old.... The second mistake was that the task to capture Bugti was given to the army, instead of other law-enforcement agencies.

Beg and the three others also urged the supreme court to probe Bugti’s death.