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Bugti directing insurgency

Daily Times Monitor

LAHORE: Nawab Akbar Bugti, the chief of the Bugti tribe, has taken to the hills of Balochistan to direct the Baloch insurgency, reports The Telegraph. The nawab sought refuge in a series of large caves in the mountains of Dera Bugti with several thousand armed tribesmen three months ago after Pakistani security forces bombed Dera Bugti and surrounding villages, says the British newspaper. A correspondent for The Telegraph met the nawab in one of these caves after a long journey across varied terrain to avoid military cordons. Bugti told the reporters his aim was not to destabilise Pakistan, but to press the demand of his people, which are greater provincial autonomy, more public sector jobs and a higher share of revenues from the Sui natural gas fields. The government denies there is a military operation ongoing in Balochistan, but an American intelligence source told the Washington Post recently that Pakistan has deployed some 25,000 troops in the Marri tribal area, and the Bugti nawab estimates that another 23,000 are ranged against his forces.

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