Violent nationwide protests flared for a second day yesterday against the Pakistan military’s killing of rebel tribal chief Nawab Akbar Bugti as police arrested hundreds of rioters. Local political groups said Bugti’s death had sparked a “never-ending war.” Enraged mobs burned dozens of shops, buses, banks and police vehicles in Quetta, capital of southwestern Balochistan province, in defiance of a round-the-clock curfew imposed yesterday by government authorities to try to quell the outpouring of anger over 79-year-old Bugti’s killing on Saturday in a raid on his mountain hide-out.
Nine policemen suffered minor wounds in a clash with about 70 protesters, some firing pistols, who tried to loot a bank and several nearby shops in northern Quetta, said police Inspector Zahir Shah. Police fired tear gas to disperse the mob.
A bomb blast damaged a government building and arsonists set fire to a telephone exchange in Kalat, a town about 250 kilometers (155 miles) south of Quetta, said local police official Ghulam Farid Jamali. There were no casualties.
Quetta police chief Suleman Sayed said 450 people were arrested yesterday in Quetta as security forces tried to crack down on violence, which has spread to other parts of impoverished Balochistan and into neighboring Sindh provinceÂ’s capital of Karachi.
“All forces have been put on alert,” Information Minister Mohammed Ali Durrani told privately run Geo TV.
An alliance of four Baloch nationalist groups announced a 15-day mourning period over Bugti’s death and vowed to continue protests throughout the region. Businesses and public transport will observe a strike today. “The government has pushed Balochistan into a never-ending war,” said Hasil Bizinjo, a senior figure of Baloch Yakjehti, or the Baloch Solidarity alliance.
Government forces killed the silver-bearded Bugti, one of PakistanÂ’s most prominent fugitives, and at least 24 of his supporters during a raid on his cave hide-out in the Kohlu area, about 220 kilometers (140 miles) east of Quetta. Bugti went into hiding in late 2005 after an attempt was made on the Pakistani presidentÂ’s life.
BugtiÂ’s son-in-law, Shahid Bugti, a senator in PakistanÂ’s Parliament, denounced the killing and demanded the government return the tribal chiefÂ’s body to his family for burial.
“This is a very tragic affair for the whole family, the tribe and the people of the whole region,” Shahid Bugti said from his father-in-law’s family house in Quetta. “We consider him a martyr. He led a very graceful life and he had a graceful death, going out while fighting for his people’s rights.” Balochistan has been wracked by decades of low-level conflict, which has often flared into large-scale clashes, as ethnic-Baloch tribespeople led by Bugti pressed the government for an increased share of wealth from natural resources extracted from the province, including gas, oil and coal.
In recent months, the government has said scores of fighters loyal to Bugti have laid down their weapons and surrendered to authorities as it stepped up attacks against the tribal chief.
The government also accused Bugti of ordering attacks on government installations, including gas refineries, the electricity grid and train lines.
Hostilities escalated in December when militants fired rockets that landed about 300 feet from President Gen. Pervez Musharraf while he was visiting Kohlu. Bugti went into hiding shortly after.
The operation that killed Bugti was launched after a land mine blew up a vehicle carrying security forces in Kohlu, said a top security official, who declined to be named because of the sensitive nature of the topic. Four security personnel were wounded.
Security forces attacked Bugti and up to 80 of his supporters in a cave hide-out following an intercept of a satellite phone call in Kohlu district, the official said. Five soldiers were also killed in the attack on BugtiÂ’s hide-out.
Bugti and his supporters were killed when the caveÂ’s roof collapsed after it came under heavy fire from Pakistani military forces, said the minister of state for information, Tariq Azeem Khan. No bodies have been retrieved so far.
Bugti, a former Pakistani senator and interior minister and Balochistan governor, was an articulate spokesman for the Baloch cause. He described Pakistani Army forces as “invaders and occupiers” for expanding military garrisons into the region. Hundreds, if not thousands, of Bugti tribesmen fought under his leadership.
The government launched an offensive against the Bugti and Marri tribes, whose leaders control swaths of Balochistan and the army put down a tribal rebellion in 1974, reportedly leaving about 3,000 dead.
Many leaders from the ruling Pakistan Muslim League (Q) have condemned the killing of Bugti, including Secretary-General Sayed Mushahid Hussain, Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, chief of PML(Q), former speaker of the National Assembly Elahi Bux Soomro and Vice Chairman of PML (Q) Kabir Ali Wasti saying, “this issue should have been resolved through political dialogue and not force.”
Hafiz Hussain Ahmad of JUI asked the government to return the body of Bugti.