KARACHI, 22 January 2005 — Paramilitary forces yesterday launched a massive operation in the Sui area of Dera Bugti district to hunt down those who attacked the Sui gas plant early this month.
However, provincial government officials denied any “military operation” or arrest in Sui, saying the law and order was totally under control and no operation had been launched so far.
A prominent Pakistani tribal chief warned of more violence after security forces demolished houses used by tribesmen to launch an attack on the country’s main gas field.
Security forces bulldozed the houses Thursday, saying they were used by tribesmen to fire rockets at the gas field. The attacks killed as many as 15 people and damaged the main purification plant and pipelines.
It was the latest in a string of attacks by tribesmen seeking more autonomy, development funds and royalties from gas.
Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti, the chief of the Bugti tribe and a former chief minister of Balochistan where the Sui field is located, said anger was growing following the military’s action. “People will resist because they are being uprooted from their homes and hearth,” he said from his hometown of Dera Bugti, 280 km southeast of the provincial capital Quetta.
“The number of militant groups will multiply now. The government alone will be responsible for aggravating the situation,” he said, claiming the army has moved in tanks and artillery in his area to strengthen its grip.
Officials say the damage at the Sui field had been repaired and supplies to consumers whose gas was cut off partially restored.
Residents of Sui, which produces up to 45 percent of Pakistan’s gas, said security forces in the area did not demolish or search houses yesterday morning, as Muslims celebrated the festival of Eid Al-Adha. But later in the day they resumed their activity, searching houses while helicopters flew overhead.
Provincial government and military sources said new bunkers and fences were being built around the gas fields to counter any fresh assaults by the tribesmen.
The latest spate of violence was triggered by the alleged rape of a female doctor by security personnel in the gas field’s residential compound. But in recent months, Baloch tribal militants have carried out a number of attacks on security personnel and the government installations, killing and wounding scores of people.
Two little known groups — the Balochistan Liberation Army and Balochistan Liberation Front — have claimed responsibility for most attacks. The mainstream Baloch nationalist forces, including Bugti, who leads his Jamhoori Watan Party, deny any link with the militants.
In a separate development, four homemade bombs exploded outside the homes of government and police officials in parts of southwestern Pakistan, shattering windows and wounding a 10-year-old boy. It was not clear who was behind the series of blasts Thursday.
The first bomb went off outside the home of the mayor in the town of Mach, 50 km southeast of Quetta, said Mir Rehmatullah, a senior police officer. The blast injured a boy.
Two bombs exploded outside the homes of the city police chief and a government official in Khuzdar, about 350 km south of Quetta, but no one was injured, he said.
Rehmatullah said the fourth bomb went off late Thursday near the home of a government official in the town of Kalat, 200 km south of Quetta.
— Additional input from agencies
