ISLAMABAD, 11 April 2005 — In a major breakthrough the government has agreed to withdraw security forces deployed between Dera Bugti and Sui as a first step of confidence building and implementation of the Shujaat-Bugti agreement.
This was announced in a press release issued here late Saturday by Pakistan Muslim League Secretary-General Mushahid Hussain Syed who was a member of the official dialogue team to resolve the stand-off between the government and Bugti tribe.
The press release said the government had decided to open the route between Dera Bugti and Sui which was closed after the March 17 incident.
It has also been agreed that all check-posts except those set up for security purposes, will be abolished soon.
The step is part of an arrangement to save the agreement as Nawab Akbar Bugti and his representatives had been complaining that the agreement was not being implemented, sources said.
Parts of the agreement between the ruling PML President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and Bugti tribal chief and Jamhoori Watan Party President Nawab Bugti, which had remained a guarded secret so far, were made public through the press release.
The two sides, which met thrice late last month with their last meeting on Saturday, had agreed to keep the details of the agreement to themselves till its implementation had started.
Following the beginning of the dialogue between Shujaat and Bugti, the work of a parliamentary committee on Balochistan headed by the former was stopped as the members from the other parties announced that they would not attend a committee meeting unless the details of the Shujaat-Bugti accord were revealed to them.
The issuance of the press release was the result of such situation. It said: “Due to the unfortunate incident that happened in Dera Bugti on the 17th of March, in which to our regret many innocent people died, the road between this town and Sui had been shut down on account of tension that gripped the area for the last few weeks.
“After long deliberations between Nawab Bugti, Chaudhry Shujaat, Mushahid Hussain and Sher Ali Mazari, it has been mutually agreed upon to open this route to normal traffic and restore communication links of the area.
“It has also been decided that other matters pertaining to the vacation of posts will also be mutually implemented, excepting those that are required for security.
“Decisions about other matters regarding long-term protection of national assets in Bugti Agency and steps to restore normal life in Dera Bugti have also been agreed upon in principle and modalities towardtheir implementation are being worked out.
“About the matters concerning provincial autonomy and other issues regarding Balochistan, the parliamentary committee will undertake a dialogue with the political forces of the province to settle the contentious issues in near future,” the press release concluded.
Shujaat and Mushahid have been conducting negotiations with Bugti and his representative Ali Sher Mazari in a bid to defuse tension in Dera Bugti which has claimed over 150 lives in exchange of gun fire.
