Somewhere out there is a man running for his life because he has just killed the grandson of Nawab Akbar Bugti.
“You don’t know who I am,” said a man who, according to one report, barged into the party to come face to face with Taleh Bugti.
“You don’t know who I am,” the Baloch reportedly replied.
What happened next, and indeed leading up to this, is a matter of conjecture and convolution. What is somewhat clear is the outcome of that fated night: At least five people, including Taleh, the grandson of the slain Baloch leader Nawab Akbar Bugti, were shot dead and nine others were injured during a drunken and bloody brawl between two groups at a ‘dance’ party off DHA’s Khayaban-e-Rahat early Sunday morning.
The police version
According to the police, Saleem Bugti’s son Taleh was attending a party arranged by Arif Raajar. However, Taleh came on the invitation of co-host Faisal. Raajar, who had his own guards at the gate and was responsible for providing security at the event, was apparently not pleased to see Taleh among the guests since the two men had a history of bad blood.
Although Taleh’s numerous heavily armed guards were present, they stayed outside the house. Taleh and Zarman went inside. The heat between the two influential groups boiled up later when Taleh demanded that some of his friends be allowed in. They included Taleh’s cousin Zahid Butt, who reportedly stormed in despite Raajar’s many objections, and started kicking around the sound system. This infuriated Raajar’s friend Dr M Iqbal, who fired in the air.
Taleh, who was armed himself, responded with a weapon of his own and shot straight at Iqbal. Iqbal fired at Taleh and killed him with two shots. Three more people, including two waiters Mark Joseph and Kamran Shafee, and Kamran Gull went down.
An eyewitness, who says he was sitting near Bugti, said Taleh was sitting and enjoying the party, while a commotion broke out at the gate as some ‘stags’ wanted to crash. One of Raajar’s men opened aerial fire to scare them off as they entered. “However, this young guy just stepped on the dance floor and shot at random and struck Taleh Bugti,” he said, adding that Bugti didn’t fire a shot and just fell.
At the hospital
Between 30 to 40 young men, thin as rakes and clad in jeans and t-shirts, flooded the waiting reception at South City Hospital around 3am when Taleh was brought there.
A doctor had informed Taleh’s mother that he had been brought in without a pulse. There was a single bullet which had entered the right of his chest and exited through the left of his back. His lungs were punctured and had filled with blood and doctors estimated he lost up to 200cc. They went to work to try to resuscitate him, fearing for their lives. “We’ll burn down this place,” the men had said. “Do whatever you need to, but save him.”
“Don’t kill us,” one of the doctors had retorted. “Go kill the man who did this to your friend.” One of Taleh’s companions had the presence of mind to get the angry men out of the ER to let the doctors go back to work.
Taleh was almost six feet tall and an extremely thickset man. A friend who had tried to get him to the hospital said that they had a lot of trouble even lifting him because he was so heavy.
When his death was pronounced, a shriek pierced the quiet scrubbed cleanliness of the hospital. A man burst through the swing doors of the ER with his cell phone jammed to his ear. “He’s dead! He’s gone!”
At the police station
Police were forced to delay filing the case till 7pm, as DIG Mehmood said no one was coming forward. According to Gizri DSP Zameer Abbasi, FIR No. 192/11 with Sections 302/34, was lodged on behalf of the State in the end. Nine people have been apprehended. However, none of them included any of Bugti’s guards or Raajar himself. Only one 9mm pistol has been taken into custody.
Accused Zahid Butt, held at the Darakhshan police station, had a gaping wound in his right arm, which was dressed at Jinnah hospital. According to him, Taleh and Raajar were on good terms, and there was third party, which was trying to crash the party. “I hugged Raajar myself,” he said.
According to Butt, he was told by his cousin to stand outside and inform him when his friends arrived. “I was standing near the gate, when some people started hitting me with guns,” he said. “The firing began suddenly and as I rushed inside, I saw my cousin lying in a pool of blood.
Another suspect, Awad, says he just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. “I always wanted to see a dance party and was told by a friend to buy the Rs3,000 ticket,” he said. Awad, who has his own garment business, said he was in the washroom when the shooting began. “Suddenly everybody started rushing in and wanted to hide and lock themselves in rooms or bathrooms,” he said.
A 20-year-old man was on the verge of tears at the police station. He thought the Taliban had attacked the dance party. “I hid under the cabinet of a kitchen sink and prayed the bullets wouldn’t hit me,” he said.
Kamran’s father Gul was at a loss of words to explain who killed his 22-year old son, who ran mobile phone shop. “These days children don’t tell their parents where they are going. All they say is, ‘I’m with a friend and will be coming home late.’” A friend told The Express Tribune that Kamran was close to Arif Raajar and went to the party on his invitation.
Irfan alias DJ Savvy was being held at Gizri PS. However, his father Mr Siddiqui was too embarrassed to talk about the case and instead said that the ‘media shedia’ was a pain.
Were there girls?
There were reports that a young woman named Beenish alias Bunty was killed and two other women were injured, with one being shot in the leg. Taleh had reportedly approached Beenish, which infuriated Raajar and led to the shoot-out.
However, no bodies of any women were reported at any hospital till the filing of this report. DIG South Iqbal Mehmood said that the rumours were not true.
The house
The party was held at house No. 121, 7th street, Khayaban-e-Rahat in Defence Phase VI.
The house is owned by a man named Nasir, who is now in the custody of the Gizri police. Nasir used to rent it out for between Rs20,000 and Rs25,000 a night.
Exactly opposite the house is the mansion of Federal Minister for Petroleum Naveed Qamar’s brother, who declined to comment. However, Abdullah Javed who lives nearby told The Express Tribune that many parties have been held at No. 121. “However this time around, it was different and it was evident that an extremely grand party was taking place,” he said, adding that there must have been at least 60 cars parked outside and many guards with heavy machine guns.
Abdullah at around 1:30am heard people demanding to be let in at No. 121. He went inside but just as he was about to lie down, the gunshots rang out. “There was utter chaos. People were running for their lives. Young guys and girls were jumping into their cars and some ran barefoot,” he said. According to him, the heavy gunfire continued for at least 15 minutes. “I saw them shifting an injured man in a Honda Civic,” he said.
The victim Dr M Iqbal and the accused at large Arif Rajarr are said to be close to Pir Pagaro’s Pakistan Muslim League-Function. However, a PML-F official denied that any of them had links with their party.
A case was registered against Taleh three months ago at the Darakhshan police station for a minor fight in the neighboorhood. Bugti lived in his family house on 26th Street.
Who was Taleh Bugti?
Nawabzada Taleh Bugti was the second son of Nawabzada Saleem Bugti, who died of heart attack in Dera Bugti about eight years ago. According to family, he was married four years ago and had two young daughters. Doctors put his age at 22 years but according to the police he was about 25 years old.
A friend described him as a man who would be there through thick and thin for his buddies. “He was probably the only Bugti to sit and eat with his guards,” he said. “He was a copy of his father.”
A young Taleh was sent to Karachi in his childhood for an education but was not reportedly able to study beyond class 10 because of the politics surrounding his family. However, he frequently visited Dera Bugti to meet his grandfather and other family members. He was very close to his elder brother Nawab Aali Bugti and accompanied him on trips to look into the tribal affairs in the Bugti territory. Taleh went under the radar along with other family members and people of the tribe after the situation worsened in Dera Bugti with a military operation in 2005.
“Nawabzada Taleh was in his early 20s and had spent most of his life in Karachi,” said Nawabzada Jamil Bugti, the eldest surviving son of Nawab Akbar Bugti, while talking to The Express Tribune. “He had no enmity with anyone. I can only say that it was the wrong thing to happen at the wrong time.”
Taleh’s body has been sent to his hometown. A close family member said that his guards had “failed to protect him and would most probably be killed”.
with additional input by Shehzad Baloch
Published in The Express Tribune, June 27th, 2011
COMMENTS (50)
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ
1713904359-0/burn-(1)1713904359-0-270x192.webp)
1713853507-0/MalalaHilary-(2)1713853507-0-270x192.webp)
He was a man of his own class ... u all r jealous cuz u were not born in nawab,wadera or jagirdar family .... N all of u showing sympathy for waiters go n help their families ... none of u will ever do this ...Cuz u r not a nawab or wadera ... they r better than u all ... they help their people in thick n thin ....