Off to Dera Bugti: Bugti tribesmen to head home, says Shahzain
Committee set up to evaluate losses, suggest compensation for displaced families.
Jamhoori Watan Party’s provincial chief Shahzain Bugti. PHOTO: INP
QUETTA:
Jamhoori Watan Party’s provincial chief Shahzain Bugti announced on Thursday that a caravan of Bugti tribesmen will set out from Quetta for Dera Bugti on January 17 in the hope of returning to their ancestral homes in the district.
Hundreds of Bugti tribesmen were displaced from their ancestral homes following a security operation in 2005.
The federal government has formed a committee under Justice (retd) Rana Bhagwandas to evaluate losses suffered by Bugti families so as to compensate them, the grandson of slain Baloch leader Nawab Akbar Bugti said.
Shazain said it was “wrongly assumed” that bloodshed would start if the family of the late Nawab Akbar Bugti would return to Dera Bugti.
“My brother, Gohram Bugti, has been living there for the last five months and everything is calm,” he said.
He said that Balochistan Chief Minister Dr Abdul Malik Baloch has made arrangements for the return of the Bugti families and caravans of Bugti refugees would set out for Dera Bugti from Quetta and other parts of the province.
He said that the committee, formed under the chairmanship of Rana Bhagwandas, includes Federal Minister Abdul Qadir Baloch, Human Rights Commission of Pakistan chairperson Asma Jahangir, Ayaz Mir and Orya Maqbool Jan.
He said that Balochistan CM has promised that 178,000 Bugti refugees, who were internally displaced as a result of the 2005 operation, would be rehabilitated and planning in this regard was under way.
In the first phase, he said, a tent city would be established to evaluate the losses of the families and thereafter their losses would be compensated after estimations.
Political observers said the returnees may include the Raija and the Masouri clans but ruled out the return of Kalpar clan of Bugti tribe. The clan of Akbar Bugti, Raija, shares a blood feud and are sworn enemies of the Kalpars, they said.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 3rd, 2014.
Jamhoori Watan Party’s provincial chief Shahzain Bugti announced on Thursday that a caravan of Bugti tribesmen will set out from Quetta for Dera Bugti on January 17 in the hope of returning to their ancestral homes in the district.
Hundreds of Bugti tribesmen were displaced from their ancestral homes following a security operation in 2005.
The federal government has formed a committee under Justice (retd) Rana Bhagwandas to evaluate losses suffered by Bugti families so as to compensate them, the grandson of slain Baloch leader Nawab Akbar Bugti said.
Shazain said it was “wrongly assumed” that bloodshed would start if the family of the late Nawab Akbar Bugti would return to Dera Bugti.
“My brother, Gohram Bugti, has been living there for the last five months and everything is calm,” he said.
He said that Balochistan Chief Minister Dr Abdul Malik Baloch has made arrangements for the return of the Bugti families and caravans of Bugti refugees would set out for Dera Bugti from Quetta and other parts of the province.
He said that the committee, formed under the chairmanship of Rana Bhagwandas, includes Federal Minister Abdul Qadir Baloch, Human Rights Commission of Pakistan chairperson Asma Jahangir, Ayaz Mir and Orya Maqbool Jan.
He said that Balochistan CM has promised that 178,000 Bugti refugees, who were internally displaced as a result of the 2005 operation, would be rehabilitated and planning in this regard was under way.
In the first phase, he said, a tent city would be established to evaluate the losses of the families and thereafter their losses would be compensated after estimations.
Political observers said the returnees may include the Raija and the Masouri clans but ruled out the return of Kalpar clan of Bugti tribe. The clan of Akbar Bugti, Raija, shares a blood feud and are sworn enemies of the Kalpars, they said.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 3rd, 2014.