 | There might be truth in rumors that moderate enlightment had
led the military to receive training in the West Bank and Gaza:
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http://www.gulfnews.com/Articles/WorldNF.asp?ArticleID=148722
Gulf News, UAE
January 21, 2005
Troops demolish homes of tribal militants in Sui
By Mujahid Ali, Correspondent
Quetta : Pakistan army and paramilitary soldiers, backed by gunship
helicopters, yesterday started razing the mud-and-brick houses of
tribal militants.
This was in retaliation for the firing of rockets and mortars by
militants targeting the gas field installations in the remote Sui area,
officials said.
Security forces launched the operation using bulldozers to demolish the
houses belonging to the Bugti tribesmen.
These houses were built around the Sui gas field installations,
witnesses said.
Balochistan provincial Home Minister Shoaib Nusherwani told Gulf News
in Quetta that only those houses which were used in attacks on the gas
field were being bulldozed.
"Securing the area and ensuring smooth gas supplies is our number one
priority," he said.
"But it is not a military operation. We have not arrested any one. We
are just depriving the militants of their hide-outs."
Gas supplies from Sui, which produces 45 per cent of the country's
total gas output, resumed only a day earlier after a breakdown that
lasted six days.
Sources in Pakistan Petroleum Ltd, which operates the field, said that
the company suffered losses of Rs35 million (Dh2.2 million) a day.
Industrial and business activities were also badly hit. Police have
issued arrest warrants for 36 tribesmen including Nawaz Akbar Khan
Bugti, the chief of the tribe and a former chief minister of
Balochistan.
One of his grandsons is also among those named in the police report for
attacks on the gas field in which at least 15 people were killed.
A senior security official said the army deployments in the area were
for an indefinite period.
"Now the forces plan to expand the security ring around the gas field
which could mean displacing local tribesmen from their homes," he said.
There are about 20,000 to 25,000 tribesmen living around the gas field.
Yesterday, the security forces snapped communications and telephone
lines of the area.
Residents of Sui, which is about 400km east of Quetta, said gunship
helicopters hovered in the sky during the demolition operation.
Earlier, hundreds of troops built checkposts to counter any retaliation
from the tribesmen.
While the ruling Pakistan Muslim League leaders want to resolve the
dispute through negotiations, army officials deployed in the area have
been ordered to show no flexibility and ensure security of the gas
field.
The violence was triggered on January 11 following the rape of a lady
doctor allegedly by security officials. The army has denied involvement
of its officers in the rape.
Opposition politicians say that the deep sense of deprivation and
non-acceptance of the demands of greater political and economic rights
of Balochis by the government aggravated the situation.
Senator Sanaullah Baloch, a nationalist leader, said the incidents of
violence can recur because people feel that their genuine demands
remain unheard.
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