QUETTA/KARACHI, 31 August 2006 — Normal life in different parts of Balochistan and Karachi remained paralyzed yesterday due to protest against the killing of veteran tribal leader and former federal minister Nawab Akbar Bugti. The Balochistan province has been in the grip of violent protests from the day of his killing.

Baloch dominated areas in Karachi like Lyari, Malir, Memon Goth, Khokarapar, Gizri, Chandio village, Pak Colony, Rexer Line, Old Golimar, Mauripur, Mominabad, Faquir Colony, Orangi Baloch Goth, Liaquatabad Balochpara, Dalmia, Gulshan-e-Hadeed, Steel Town etc. were tensed and witnessed violent protests, further contingents of police and rangers were called in the area yesterday.

Angry protesters blocked highways in southwestern Pakistan, preventing workers from reaching the provincial capital and forcing most shops to close. Police said up to 700 people have been arrested since riots erupted Saturday over the death of Bugti, who led a campaign for greater control by the Baloch tribespeople of natural resources extracted from their region. He was killed in a military raid on his cave hide-out in Balochistan.

Hundreds of protesters blocked two roads linking Quetta to Karachi, and one heading west to Iran, said Balochistan police chief Chaudhry Mohammed Yaqoob.

About 200 people blocking a bridge with trucks on the highway to Karachi lifted their siege after eight hours following talks between protest leaders and government officials, said local police officer Anwar Maqsood.

Boulders and crudely erected barricades blocked another road linking Karachi with Gawadar, a remote Balochistan town on the Arabian Sea coast, Yaqoob said.

The blockades prevented many workers from entering Quetta, forcing markets, banks and shops to close. Dozens of buses were parked at a terminal in Quetta unable to leave for Karachi and the eastern city of Lahore, according to an Associated Press Television News cameraman at the scene.

“More than 70,000 of our supporters are active across Balochistan to record their protest against the killing of their beloved leader,” said Habib Jalib, a leader of the Baloch Solidarity movement, an alliance of four political groups that ordered the highways blocked. There were no immediate reports of violence in Quetta. A day earlier, a memorial service for Bugti descended into violence as protesters threw hand grenades at police and set fire to 20 businesses. Four people were killed in the bombing of a restaurant, but it was unclear if the blast was linked to the protests.

At least two people have been killed over four days of rioting that has seen scores of government buildings, businesses and vehicles burned. Yaqoob said between 650 and 700 people have been arrested, though Jalib claimed police had detained about 850 supporters of his alliance.

The military has not retrieved Bugti’s body from the rubble of the cave, whose roof collapsed in an unexplained explosion during the raid Saturday. Pakistani authorities have said they were sure Bugti was inside before the blast. The slain tribal leader’s son has questioned claims by the government that his father’s body is still trapped under the rubble.

Two Bugti supporters in Quetta demanded authorities recover his body for a proper burial. “We are ready to give him a proper burial if they give us the body. If they don’t, we cannot do anything,” said Nek Mohammed, 38.

“This is an extreme atrocity that has happened to us.” Bashir Ahmed, aged in his 20s, said: “This problem will be solved if his body is found.”

Suspected militants blew up a railway line in Balochistan yesterday. Police and railway officials said militants blew up a railway track in Mastung district, 50 km south of Quetta.

Elsewhere, protesters set fire to a government savings office and half a dozen shops in Khuzdar town after prayers were held for Bugti, 79, a former provincial governor and a former chief minister. “Police fired into the air and used teargas to disperse the crowd,” said witness Abdul Waheed.

Analysts say Bugti’s killing is likely to inflame opposition in Balochistan. It could also stir nationalist sentiment in other provinces and galvanize broad opposition to President Pervez Musharraf.

Bugti, who had been involved in a confrontation with the central government over demands for provincial autonomy and a greater share of profits from the region’s resources, was seen as a hero by many in his struggle against Musharraf government, and opposition and Baloch groups said he had been deliberately targeted by the army, which denied the charge. Opposition parties have demanded an inquiry into Bugti’s death.