QUETTA: Chief medical officer of Gwadar Dr Naseem Baloch was shot dead by unknown assailants in Pasni, Balochistan, on Friday night.

According to an official in Pasni, Dr Naseem, CMO of the the district headquarters hospital in Gwadar was at his clinic in Pasni bazaar when two armed men barged into the clinic and opened fire on him, killing him instantly.

The attackers managed to escape on a motor bike after the committing the crime. The body was shifted to the Civil Hospital Pasni for autopsy.

According to doctors, the victim had received five bullet wounds causing death.

The Pakistan Medical Association, Gwadar chapter announced that all government and private hospitals will remain closed on Saturday to protest against the killing. They demanded the government and law enforcing agencies to bring culprits to book.

QUETTA: The Balochistan High Court (BHC) has directed the federal government to seek extradition of former president Pervez Musharraf, former prime minister Shaukat Aziz and other accused in the Nawab Akbar Bugti murder case who are currently not residing in Pakistan.

“The federal government is directed to seek extradition of those accused residing in treaty states whose arrest warrants have been issued by the competent court of law,” the bench ordered.

The court also directed that minutes of federal and provincial cabinet meetings that were held when Bugti was killed should be collected.

The bench, comprising Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa and Justice Abdul Qadir Mengal, issued directives before disposing off the petition filed by Nawabzada Jamil Akbar Bugti, the oldest surviving son of Nawab Akbar Bugti.

Copies of arrest warrants for Musharraf and Aziz were submitted before the BHC. Jamil had stated in his petition that the murder case was not being investigated “properly”, since no efforts had been made to record statements or arrest the accused nominated in the FIR registered at the Dera Bugti Police Station.

‘We knew nothing’

Deputy Attorney-General Malik Sikandar submitted Aziz’s statement in Tuesday’s hearing, in which he had said that he was “used as a tool” by then president Musharraf and had nothing to do with the Bugti murder case. However, it stated, he will extend his cooperation to the court during investigations.

Recently, arrest warrants were issued for not only Musharraf and Aziz, but also former home minister and sitting Member of Provincial Assembly Shoaib Ahmed Nosherwani of Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid. Other accused who are nominated in the FIR include former Balochistan governor Owais Ghani, former federal interior minister Aftab Sherpao, and former chief minister and sitting Member of National Assembly Jam Mir Mohammad Yusuf.

According to sources within the home department, the crime branch has filed a formal request with them for extradition of Yusuf.

Ghani, who was then governor, also submitted a reply and stated that although he was the constitutional head of Balochistan, he was unaware of the military operation until it took place. “There may have been talks between the federal and provincial government about the operation but I do not know about them,” he stated.

Sherpao’s statement said that he was in Peshawar when Bugti was killed and only came to know of the murder through government and media sources. “Jamil nominated me as an accused just because I was interior minister at the time,” he said. He also assured the court that he will cooperate during investigation.

Jamil ‘not satisfied’

Talking to journalists outside the court, Jamil said he was not satisfied with the investigation. “The court merely issued directives and did its job, but now it is the responsibility of the executive to implement these directives. The statements by Aziz and others accused submitted to court are surprising because everyone seems to be trying to blame each other for the murder,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 2^nd, 2011.

QUETTA: A sitting Balochistan Provincial Minister and Chief of the Jalawan, Sardar Sanaullah Zehri escaped an attempt on his life near Surab in Kalat district, on Friday night. The Baloch Liberation Front has claimed responsibility for the attack.

Assistant Commissioner of police Qadir Baksh said that the provincial minister for Services and General Administration Department (SGAD) Sardar Sanaullah, who was on his way to Khuzdar from Kalat, when an explosive device planted along with RCD highway near Anjera area went off. However, the minister remained unhurt in the attack as blast took place a few minutes before his convoy passed by.

“The target was Sardar Sanaullah Zehri. No one was hurt in the explosion,” Baksh said.

A heavy contingent of police and law enforcing agencies rushed to the spot and set up a security cordon around the minister.

A manhunt has been mounted in the area.

BLF claims responsibility for attack

Banned outfit, Baloch Liberation Front (BLF) has claimed responsibility for the attack on provincial minister Sardar Sanaullah Zehri.

A BLF spokesperson, who introduced himself as Duda Baloch has said his organisation would target Zehri again following its failed attempt.

Meanwhile, Balochistan Chief Minister Nawab Aslam Raisani has condemned the attack on Zehri and termed it against tribal norms.

“The culprits will not be spared at any cost and government will make its utmost efforts to bring the culprits to book,” a Balochistan government handout quoted him.

Officials of the FIA asserted that 8-10,000 people cross the Pak-Afghan border daily from Chaman without proper documents, making it difficult to track their movement.

A judicial tribunal, while expressing serious concern over the deteriorating law and order situation, recommended installing CCTV cameras at all entry points of Quetta as well as along the Chaman border.

However, so far no steps have been taken to enforce strict monitoring of cross-border movement by the security agencies.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 6^th, 2011.

JAFFARABAD: At least four people, including two security personnel and two officials of Oil and Gas Development Company (OGDCL), were killed along with three others, when a remote-controlled bomb targeted their convoy in Jaffarabad district on Thursday. Two passers-bys also sustained injuries in attack.

Banned outfit Baloch Republican Army (BRA) has claimed the responsibility for the attack.

A convoy of OGDCL employees escorted by security forces was on its way to Jacobabad from Murad Jamali when it was attacked with a remote controlled device near Dera Allahyar bypass, about 400 kilometre southeast of Quetta.

“A bomb fitted to a motorcycle was parked along the road and detonated by remote control when convoy passed through the area,” district police officer (DPO) Jaffarabad Javed Gharshin, told The Express Tribune. “Anti-state elements are involved in this attack,” he added.

The blast destroyed the vehicle in which employees and some security personnel were onboard. Security personnel set up a security cordon in the area soon after the explosion and shifted the deceased and injured to nearby hospital. “Two people were killed instantly while two others succumbed to their injuries after reaching hospital,” sources said.

The critically injured were shifted to Jacobabad for specialized treatment. The injured were identified as field officer Kamran Siddiq, a rickshaw driver Mohammad Bambal, and truck driver Sayed Mohammad Rasul.

The deceased were identified as Shafiqur Rehman, officer of OGDCL, Mohammad Nawaz driver and slain security personnel as Amjid Ali and Khuda Bhaksh.  The slain Engineer belonged to Jacobabad.

There were seven vehicles in the convoy and few of them were partially damaged while one was completely destroyed. Security forces have mounted a manhunt in the area for the culprits.

The OGDC is engaged in exploiting and exploration of gas and oil deposits in mineral rich Balochistan which is opposed by local Baloch militants.

The banned Baloch militants groups usually target officials and companies engage in exploration in Balochistan. The defunct Baloch Republican Army (BRA) claimed responsibility for the attack and its spokesman who introduced himself as Sarbaz Baloch said his organization will continue such attacks in future.

The BRA had also attacked the OGDCL convoy in March of this year which killed four and injured 18.

Police found three bodies packed in separate sacks in a suburb of Quetta, Jabal-e-Noor. The bodies were taken to the Bolan Medical College Hospital. The identities of the bodies were determined through slips recovered from each sack. They were identified as Maqsood an activist of the Baloch Students Organization (BSO-Azad), Ghulam Murtaza and Nasir Badni.

Police recovered another dead body from the Qambarani Road of Quetta, identified later as Abdul Khalil Baloch who went missing a month ago.

According to a police official, the killers had written on slips of paper attached to their bodies that the victims were agents of the banned outfit, the Baloch Liberation Army. Doctors said the bodies bore multiple marks of torture.

According to a BSO-Azad spokesperson, Maqsood was whisked away by security personnel during a search operation in Khuzdar a few months ago. Many people abducted during the operation are still missing, he claimed.

The chairperson of the Voice for Baloch Missing Persons, Nasrullah Baloch said all the four victims were on the list of missing persons and their relatives had previously held press conferences in Quetta and Islamabad calling for their safe recovery.

“We have evidence and eyewitnesses that they were picked up and ultimately killed by state functionaries in official custody,” he added.

Nasrullah Baloch said the organisation had conveyed their concerns to the chief justice but to no avail. Meanwhile, a complete shutter down strike was observed in Kech district for the second consecutive day on Saturday to condemn the recovery of bullet riddled bodies.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 17^th, 2011.

The commission, however, was promptly rejected by Bugti’s eldest son Nawabzada Jamil Bugti who said he had no expectations from the incumbent government.

Akbar Bugti was killed during a military operation in 2006.

The decision was taken during the meeting, presided over by Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, that focused on the implementation of the Aghaz-e-Haqooq-e-Balochistan package.

When asked if the move was an attempt to delay the Balochistan High court orders that sought arrest warrants of the accused nominated in the Bugti murder case, Federal Minister for Information Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan said it is not a conspiracy.

“We are talking about the apex court which is appropriate considering the sensitivity of the case,” she said.

Awan claimed that the government has implemented 60% of the Balochistan package while another 25% will be implemented in the next two months.

She said that the prime minister has lifted the ban on recruitment in government departments while the Establishment Division had indicated 6,700 vacant posts between grades 7 and 20 in different departments of the federal government.

“These posts will be filled up by candidates from Balochistan,” she said, adding that the selection board will conduct the test and interview in Quetta shortly.

Nationalists and missing persons

Prime Minister Gilani said that a committee has been constituted to hold talks with Baloch nationalists and will work in consultation with the governor and the chief minister.

The premier also expressed ‘concern’ over the issue of missing persons and said that a judicial tribunal and a public commission are already looking into the issue.

Foreign forces, hostile agencies

Repeating his mantra, Interior Minister Rehman Malik said that foreign forces and hostile security agencies are involved in creating a law and order situation in Balochistan.

The interior minister claimed that the situation in Balochistan vis-à-vis terrorism-related, ethnic and sectarian killings was “comparably better than in other provinces.” Over the past three years, 134 Punjabi-speaking people have been killed while another 45 have been killed in sectarian violence, he said.

While ruling out involvement of security forces and intelligence agencies, the minister said that 116 bullet-riddled bodes have been recovered in the last two years.

Regarding allegations of harassment by the Frontier Corps (FC) and coast guards personnel, Malik said that the government had abolished 35 FC check posts and curtailed the powers of the coast guards. “The FC will be removed once recruitment in provincial forces, including the police, is completed,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 14^th, 2011.

Earlier, doctors took out a procession from the Sandeman Hospital intending to hold a sit-in in front of the Chief Minister Secretariat in order to press the authorities to fulfil their demands of pay raises and benefits equivalent to doctors performing their duties in the federal capital.

Police officials used force when the protesting doctors tried to break the police line preventing them from moving towards the Chief Minister Secretariat where they planned to stage a sit-in. When the protesters ignored the police warnings, the police officials lobbed tear gas shells and tried to disperse the rally.

At least seven doctors sustained injuries in the clash. Some policemen fired blank shots in the air to scare off the protesters and forced them to disperse immediately.

“Dr Bazai received four bullet wounds while Dr Umrani has sustained two bullet injuries,” sources at hospital revealed.

Protesting doctors claimed that police opened straight fire at the procession with orders to kill some of the doctors. “The police’s intentions were quite clear when they shot our colleagues,” said Dr Abdul Rashed Nasir of Young Doctors Association (YDA).

The doctors announced that all the emergency units will remain closed till today (Wednesday) 10:00 am to register their protest with the government.

Meanwhile Chief Minister Nawab Aslam Raisani has said that the government will not be blackmailed by the doctors but promised that he would look into their problems. “I have constituted a committee to look into the doctors’ demands therefore there is no justification for them to prolong the senseless strike,” he said while presiding over a high-level meeting to review the matter.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 15^th, 2011.

Retracting his former statement, the driver accompanying the foreigners killed said the dead were unarmed and possessed nothing but books, clothes and shampoo.

Talking to journalists on Sunday, driver Ata Mohammad said: “I lied under duress that the foreigners were carrying hand grenades. The police threatened me with dire consequences.”

“We were on our way when some police officials intercepted us near the Khezi checkpoint for a search,” said Mohammad. After searching their belongings, the police found nothing except for shampoo bottles, clothes and books, he said. “I was sitting at the checkpoint and an official came to me and said the foreigners are suspicious and took them to the police station. We were on our way when a noisy quarrel broke out and I heard a voice
saying Allah o Akbar and then a police official said “stop the vehicle”. We stepped out and the foreigners tried to run away, the officer fired two bullets in the air and asked them to stop, but they avoided the call and kept running,” he said.

He said the police were chasing the foreigners when they entered a street. There was no sound of an explosion nor did I see any explosives, hand grenades or weapons with the foreigners, he said. “I gave a false statement on May 17, but I did not lie before the judicial tribunal,” he added.

At the tribunal hearing, Muhammad had said he did not see any grenade and explosives with the people, but told the tribunal that he was not facing any pressure from the police.

The person who booked the van from Kuchlak is still missing and no efforts have been made to trace him.

The bodies of Olga, a Russian national, and her Tajik husband Nauman were buried at Jabar Noorul Quran graveyard in Quetta. Nauman’s father attended the funeral prayers. Olga was seven months pregnant when she was shot dead by the security forces.

The other three foreigners killed have not been identified as yet and their bodies are still at the morgue at the Bolan Medical Complex.

Five foreigners, three women and two men, were gunned down on May 17, by the Frontier Corps (FC) and police near an FC picket on International Highway in the Kharotabad area, a suburb of Quetta. The police had alleged that the five were wearing suicide jackets and possessed explosives. An FC official was also killed in the incident.

However, the bomb disposal squad and post-mortem reports revealed that the suspects were neither wearing suicide jackets, nor possessed explosive material at the time of the attack.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 13^th, 2011.