Akbar Bugti murder case: Promised judicial commission yet to be constituted

Officials at odds over commission’s mandate.

ISLAMABAD:

Despite a lapse of several months, the government is still struggling to constitute a judicial commission to investigate the murder of Baloch leader Nawab Akbar Bugti.

On February 2, the interior ministry gave a clear mandate and terms of reference for the proposed commission to probe into the high-profile murder.

The commission had to investigate the circumstances that led the Bugti tribe to leave their ancestral town and the abduction of hundreds of Baloch called the “missing persons”.

Officials familiar with developments in the Law and Justice Division told The Express Tribune that despite hectic efforts, they could not nominate a Supreme Court judge required to head the commission and investigate into the circumstances of the murder.

A senior official from the Establishment Division dealing with Balochistan’s affairs told The Express Tribune that the Law and Justice Division has held many meetings for the constitution of a judicial commission. “No developments have been made so far because of reasons best known to senior officials,” said an interior ministry spokesperson.

“Nobody really knows what is happening,” said Mir Ahmadan Khan Bugti, an MNA from Dera Bugti.

“There are certain forces that are not allowing an investigation into Akbar Bugti’s murder,” said Rubina Irfan, a member of the Balochistan Cabinet. While she did not explain who or what these ‘forces’ were, she dispelled the impression that Bugti’s family was not pursuing the case properly. His eldest son, Jamil Bugti, is pursuing the case personally and appears before the court on every hearing, she said.

But Senator Shahid Bugti disagrees with Irfan. “After moving to Quetta, Nawab Bugti’s family did not pursue the case properly. I asked the prime minister about the constitution of the commission, but he told me to talk to the interior minister,” Senator Bugti, from the Jahmoori Watan Party, said. He said that his party is opposed to constituting a judicial commission for the case because ‘everybody knows that former president General (retd) Pervez Musharraf and his brigade are responsible for the killing’.

Interior Minister Rehman Malik is heading the committee which is supposed to constitute the commission, as well as implement the Aghaz-e-Huqooq-e-Balochistan package in letter and spirit.



Published in The Express Tribune, September 3^rd, 2011.