Bugti family member points out possible surveillance

Tabish Bugti says cousin Akif’s phone is tapped.

KARACHI:

Akif Bugti, a relative of the late Nawab Akbar Bugti, has said he has been confined to his apartment in Phase II of DHA, allegedly by the members of the intelligence agencies.

Akif’s cousin, Tabish, told The Express Tribune, “We believe the only reason why intelligence agencies and police officers have cordoned off the area around his residence is because he uttered the words ‘Azad Balochistan’ during a phone conversation.”

According to Tabish, men in plainclothes have been circling the apartment on motorcycles while police officers who are posted outside the apartment have been asking for the whereabouts of Akif’s father since Friday morning. They have also been asking for the National Identity Cards of every person entering and leaving the building.

“We don’t want Akif to end up like the thousands of missing persons who have left without a trace,” said a disgruntled Tabish Bugti. “If the agencies want to abduct him they should do so on the record. If he is at fault then he should be brought before the court.” He feared that Akif would be picked up if he left his house and told The Express Tribune that his phone was tapped. Akif owns a construction company in Quetta and had come to Karachi to attend Tabish’s wedding.

It was on the night of the valima on January 31, when the wife, 34-year-old Jhumar, and the daughter, 13-year-old Jaana, of MPA Muhammad Bakhtiar Domki were gunned down near Gizri Bridge when they were on their way back home. The Supreme Court took notice of the matter and ordered the arrest of the killers.

Meanwhile, Defence SHO Khalid Mehmood denied that any police officers from his station were present around Akif’s home. “We have not cordoned any area,” he said. “Since Phase II is a commercial area we have mobiles patrolling there.”

Published in The Express Tribune, March 4^th, 2012.