ISLAMABAD — Army spokesman Major-General Shaukat Sultan has claimed that officers and soldiers who had gone into the cave where the slain Baloch nationalist leader Nawab Akbar Bugti was hiding, wanted to ‘negotiate’ (surrender terms) with Bugti. Talking to reporters here, he insisted that there was no intention to kill Nawab Akbar Bugti.
Asked how could any search party risk entering the cave in the evening time knowing fully well that the militants had lethal weapons, Sultan said: “They never wanted to kill Bugti. There are clear instructions to exercise extreme restraint in such operations." He said a mysterious blast brought down the brittle roof of the cave killing Bugti and the soldiers. “No fighting or use of explosives preceded the mysterious blast,” the military spokesman said, adding that the search party had orders to apprehend, not to kill Nawab Bugti. Somebody trip over a "arms cache" during an "encounter"? | The spokesman discounted reports that a missile fired from a helicopter destroyed the cave. Sultan said four to five more days would be required to retrieve Bugti's body. “Army engineers have carried out a survey of the area which reveals that the work would require four to five days to recover the bodies,” he said.
Gen. Sultan said the survey has revealed that the site of the incident is so rugged and hilly that heavy machinery cannot be engaged to remove the debris of the cave. Thus, he said, the work of removing the cave's debris would be undertaken manually and it would be a time taking job besides being laborious and hectic. He said it would also be highly risky as nobody knew how much of live arms were still inside the collapsed cave. Moreover, he said, a "minor vibration" could cause further collapse.
Responding to a question, Gen. Sultan said they have confirmed reports that Nawab Akbar Bugti was inside the cave which collapsed due to reasons unknown so far. He said a tribesman from the Bugti clan, who was guiding law enforcement agencies, had earlier entered the cave and confirmed the presence of people inside including Akbar Bugti. A "guide" or a "stoolie"? | After sometime the guide returned to the commanding officer of law enforcement agencies, who then went inside the cave. During this process the cave collapsed all of sudden leaving all the inmates of the cave dead. "It just fell down. Honest." | Gen. Sultan said the commanding officer had gone into the cave to negotiate with Akbar Bugti surrender terms as the government had intended to take him into custody. He said there was no confirmation about the presence of any of the kinsmen of Akbar Bugti, nor the government at any stage has provided any such information to the media. Gen. Sultan said the bodies of the law enforcers were recovered on Aug. 26 and Aug. 27 as they had not covered much distance inside the cave. "Their rituals were carried out on Aug. 28," he added. So the "negotiation team" died as well. Interesting |
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