Commission to probe Akbar Bugti’s death

New judicial panel to be named to resolve missing persons’ cases.

ISLAMABAD: The government has decided to form a commission that will investigate the circumstances that led to Baloch chieftain Nawab Akbar Bugti’s death. According to a statement issued on Tuesday, the commission will examine the law and order situation prevalent in Dera Bugti at the time of his death.

The decision to constitute the commission was taken at a high-level meeting headed by Interior Minister Rehman Malik that was called to review progress on the implementation of the Aghaz-i-Haqooq Balochistan Package which the parliament passed in 2009.

The issue of Baloch missing persons was also brought up during the meeting and it was decided that a new judicial commission will soon be constituted with a long-term mandate of resolving the matter.

The participants of the meeting also decided to create 5,000 new jobs in Balochistan which will be financed by the federal government for four years. Balochistan’s representation will be increased in the OGDC’s board of directors, the PPL and the SSGCL, the meeting decided.

The meeting also decided to release Rs1 billion to the government of Balochistan for the rehabilitation of flood victims and resettlement of IDPs in Dera Bugti, development projects launched at Gwadar and constitutional rights conferred upon the province under the 18th amendment.

It was also decided that the Frontier Corps (FC) will take over command at Sui from the Pakistan Army in the next two months.  Rehman Malik called for extra attention on Balochistan’s administrative problems, especially those related to the FC, coast guards, police and the Levies Force.

The participants observed that the pace of work on Balochistan package’s proposals needs to be expedited and that all ministries, divisions and offices concerned would be called for a detailed overview of the projects. Malik also advocated a development approach for Dera Bugti similar to the one followed in Chamalang coal mines.

The interior minister also called upon educational institutes to relax and enhance the admission quota for students from Balochistan. He promised to speak with the prime minister about awarding 600 scholarships - suspended by the Higher Education Commission for paucity of funds - to the students from Balochistan.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 9^th, 2011.