Unexpected boost: Opposition leader Rind to back Bhootani in session

Sources confirm Rind has written a letter for arranging foolproof security measures from Bolan to assembly.

QUETTA:

Beleaguered Balochistan Assembly Speaker Aslam Bhootani has received unexpected help from opposition MPA Sardar Yar Mohammad Rind, who has decided to attend Wednesday’s session to extend his unqualified support.

Well informed sources confirmed that Rind has written a letter to the speaker of the Balochistan Assembly for arranging foolproof security measures from Bolan to the Balochistan Assembly hall.

Bhootani has already contacted the Balochistan chief secretary to arrange an armed escort.

Earlier, Rind had attended the inaugural session of the present Balochistan Assembly and taken oath as a member of the house. After taking oath, he was personally escorted out to a safe house by Bhootani, so that the Rind tribe chief would remain unharmed.

The Rind and Raisani tribes have been involved in a blood feud for several decades, and several people from both sides have been killed as a result. It is thus expected that Rind’s life will be at risk when he pays a visit to Quetta for the assembly session, where a no-confidence motion on Bhootani will be voted upon.

The speaker himself will not be attending the assembly session on December 26, raising the question of how he will provide security to an assembly member in his absence.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 25^th, 2012.