Raziq Bugti gunned down

QUETTA: Abdul Raziq Bugti, spokesman for the Balochistan government and a renowned politician, was assassinated in a high-security zone of the provincial capital on Friday afternoon by unknown gunmen.

The defunct Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) claimed responsibility for the cold-blooded murder on the Zarghoon road just half a kilometre away from the Governor House and the Balochistan Secretariat.

Bugti, 55, was on his way home from the PTV Quetta Station, when unidentified armed men opened indiscriminate fire on his official four-wheel vehicle. He sustained multiple bullet injuries in his head, neck and shoulder and died on the spot, witnesses said.

Bugti was driving alone at the time of the incident that took place around 4:15 pm. Sources said the official spokesman, who defended a “spineless provincial government on all fronts through the most turbulent times” was not provided any official guard. Sources said he was likely to be the caretaker chief minister.

Reports suggested that the assailants had taken positions on both sides of the Zarghoon road in the VVIP area. The attack was so intense that the victim could not retaliate. The attackers fled immediately. It took half hour for the police and the district administration to reach the spot.

The body was shifted to a local hospital for autopsy, where hundreds of people gathered after hearing the news of the bloody incident.

Top police officials said two teams have been constituted to probe the matter. “Two teams of the CID department and the Investigation Branch have started their investigations,” Provincial Police Officer Tariq Masood Khosa said.

Khosa said preliminary investigation at the scene suggest indiscriminate Kalashnikov fire on Bugti from a vehicle carrying three-plus assailants. “The vehicle used in the crime has been identified and the police have launched a hunt for the killers,” he added.

Till our going to the press, no cabinet

member or any senior official visited the residence of Bugti to condole and sympathise with the bereaved family.

However, Balochistan Chief Minister Jam Muhammad Yousuf, along with provincial ministers Syed Ehsan Shah, Mir Asim Kurd Gailo and Shoaib Nausherwani and Provincial Police Officer Tariq Masood Khosa addressed a press conference and termed the assassination of his government’s media consultant a target killing.

“Since Raziq Bugti was the spokesman of the provincial government, so this is a direct threat to me also,” Jam said, adding, ìThe only fault of Bugti was that he was with the government and represented the government effectively.”

The chief minister also announced Rs 2 million compensation for the bereaved family.

Paying rich tributes to Bugti, Jam said he was a Baloch leader and struggled for securing the rights of the Baloch and Balochistan. He maintained good relations with all the nationalist and political parties in the province, he said, urging the nationalist parties to also condemn the murder.

Bugti belonged to Messori clan of the Bugti tribe living in the Khajak area of Sibi district. He joined the Baloch Students Organisation (BSO) in 1968 and was elected its chairman in 1978. He had also served in the Federal Students Union.

In 1980, he went to Afghanistan. Upon his return from Afghanistan he developed some differences with the BSO, and then founded the Progressive Youth Movement. He joined the Pakistan National Party led by Mir Ghous Bakhsh Bizenjo and had served as the provincial head and central secretary-general of PNP.

Bugti founded the National Awami Party Pakistan (NAPP) together with veteran political leader, Ajmal Khattak and joined the National Alliance from the platform of the NAPP in the last general elections.

He had been serving as the media consultant of the chief minister and spokesman for the provincial government for the last two years. He has left behind a widow, two sons and a daughter, besides a large number admirers to mourn his death.

His killings created tension in the area and police and other law-enforcement agenciesí personnel were deployed there. However, these measures — in the case of previous incidents of violence ñ have failed to boost people’s confidence in the law-enforcement agencies.

A witness said the body lay in a pool of blood till 4:45 pm until police arrived. “They might try to investigate but the result would be the same as that of the killing of seven Army men on very this road only last month,” he said on condition of anonymity, referring to the June 9 incident.

The killing also exposed a so-called “special security plan” of the government that was devised last month, said the mourners, who had gathered at the hospital, where Bugti’s body was taken. They demanded of the government to step down in the larger interest of the province.

Agencies add: Babrak Baloch, a purported spokesman for the Baloch Liberation Army, claimed responsibility for killing Bugti on behalf of the group. Balochistan Chief Minister Jam Mohammad Yousaf also blamed the BLA for Friday’s attack.

President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz condemned Bugtiís killing. The president and the prime minister also expressed their sympathies with the bereaved family.