Leader of the Balochistani opposition forces, Nawab Akbar Bugti, said on Tuesday that reconciliation with the central government could only be made on Balochistani terms, reports the Pakistani daily The Nation.
Bugti met with a 12-member parliamentary delegation, which is trying to end a stand-off between troops and tribesmen in the province of Balochistan, following recent clashes that ended with dozens of casualties.
According to the Balochistani leader, 62 people were killed in firing last Thursday by paramilitary forces. “The government forces used machine guns and helicopter gunships. They fired on us with all the weapons that the Army has, except nuclear devices. But I presume, if need be, nobody would give a second thought about using them (nuclear weapons) to exterminate the Baloch.”
Following last Thursday’s incident, officials say Balochistani tribesmen have surrounded some 300 soldiers, government officials and their families who have been sheltering since Sunday at a fort at Dera Bugti. The commander of paramilitary troops in the region, Brigadier Salim Nawaz, showed video images of heavily armed tribesmen ringing the fort.
Officials said that Bugti has a private army of up to 4,000. Bugti denied his men were laying siege to the fort but reiterated complaints that the Baloch people were getting no benefits from natural resources.
The Balochistan province saw major riots two months ago, when the central government stopped supplying gas to the provinces of Punjab and Balochistan, due to a shortage of spare parts for damaged gas facilities. This move was followed by missile attacks on the gas pipelines, carried out by Balochistani tribes