ISLAMABAD, 29 November 2006 — The former chief minister of Balochistan and head of the Balochistan National Party, Akhtar Mengal, was placed under house arrest by the Balochistan authorities yesterday. An official statement said, “Akhtar Mengal and his party workers were causing law and order problems in the province.”

Mengal had led a rally in which he attacked the policies of the federal government. He accused the federal government of usurping the rights of the Baloch people and urged Islamabad to give the people of Balochistan their due rights. Mengal had also announced a long march to Gwadar to register his party’s protest over the killing of Nawab Akbar Bugti. A number of BNP workers have been arrested in various cities of Balochistan over the past 36 hours. Police arrested BNP activists from the coastal cities of Pasni, Jivani, Gwadar, Punjgur, Turbat, Sibbi, Khuzdar and Kalat.

Habib Jalib, a spokesman for the BNP told Arab News by telephone that a large number of Balochistan Students Organization members had also been arrested in addition to BNP workers over the past two days. He said BSO leaders were arrested from Mastoong, Kahan and some other localities during police raids there.

“About 50 people, including the BNP chief and members of the party’s central committee have been detained for breaching the peace,” police officer Ghulam Ali Lashari told AFP. They were taken into custody from Sakran, a small town 80 kilometers west of Karachi, from where BNP leaders were heading to Gwadar to lead a march tomorrow.

Lashari said the police preventive measures were taken to foil any attempts to disrupt the peace. However BNP leaders vowed the march, from the coastal town of Gwadar to the provincial capital Quetta, would go ahead.

Senate Debates Khar Missile Attack

The upper house of Parliament yesterday debated the attack on Khar Madrasa in Bajaur and sacking of 64 bearded employees of the Pakistan International Airlines.

Sen. Khalid Soomro from the Muttaheda Majlis-e-Amal said 64 PIA employees were dismissed because they had grown beards.

Federal Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Sher Afgan told the house 48 PIA employees had been sent on leave because they were not fit for duty. MMA senators objected to the minister’s remarks and protested the sacking of the employees.

Deputy Senate Chairman Jan Jamali told the minister to find out what prompted the PIA authorities to sack only bearded PIA employees. Growing a beard is not a crime, he said.

While debating the missile attack on the Khar Madrasa, majority of the opposition senators rejected the government’s contention that the madrasa was used as a training facility for militants. They called for a complete probe into the madrasa attack that left 82 people dead and into the suicide bombing in Dargai that killed 42 soldiers.

Meanwhile, four Taleban militants were killed by security forces in Zara Mela village in North Waziristan.