Re: BALUCH RESISTANCE…WHO ARE THEY??INDIAN TRAINED TERRORISTS…A REPORT.
Another Pipeline was blown today…
Pakistan tribal leader denies Indian support Thu Jan 12, 3:18 AM ET
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060112/wl_sthasia_afp/indiapakistanunrestsouthwest_060112081806
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NEW DELHI (AFP) - Pakistan’s powerful tribal chieftain Nawab Akbar Bugti has denied claims by President Pervez Musharraf that his group is being supported by New Delhi, an Indian newspaper reported.
“President Musharraf is using his favourite weapon – lies,” Bugti told the Hindu newspaper in a satellite-phone interview from his headquarters at Dera Bugti town in Pakistan’s volatile southwestern Baluchistan province.
“His objective is to defame the legitimate demands of the people of Baluchistan.”
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Musharraf said in a weekend interview with an Indian television channel that there was proof that nuclear rival India was providing support to the tribal insurgency in Baluchistan.
Indian involvement, he added, included “financial support” and “support in kind”.
The elderly, white-bearded Bugti, however, flatly denied the charge.
“What is the need for us to take anything from anyone,” he asked. “The weapons we are now using flowed into this region when the United States financed the jihad (holy war) in Afghanistan,” he said.
“It was the Inter-Services Intelligence which distributed them to Afghanistan, Iran, Jammu and Kashmir – and to us in Baluchistan,” he added, referring to the ISI, Pakistan’s intelligence agency.
The cost of acquiring weapons was minimal because of their easy availability, he added.
In the latest violence to rock the province, Pakistani forces shot dead 12 suspected tribal militants Wednesday after a roadside bomb blast killed three soldiers, a government official said.
Opposition parties in Baluchistan accuse the government of using helicopter gunships and warplanes to rocket and bomb civilians.
India said last month it had noted these allegations with concern and said it hoped Islamabad would show “restraint”.
Musharraf responded by saying he was “annoyed” and “disappointed” by the statements.
New Delhi has a strategic interest in Baluchistan as a proposed gas pipeline from Iran to India is slated to pass through the region.
Bugti warned that Baluchistan insurgents would continue attacks on both existing and future pipelines.
“India-Pakistan peace is something for them to deal with, not us. We want our rights – a fair share of the revenues from our country’s resources,” he told the Hindu.
The arch-rivals began a peace process two years ago which has so far produced a number of largely symbolic steps, including cross-border bus services and the resumption of sporting ties, but progress has been sluggish on central issues, including their bitter dispute over Kashmir.
Baluchistan tribesmen have waged a revolt against the central government in the province during the past year and a half, targeting government installations, railway tracks and gas facilities with bombs and rockets.
They are demanding a bigger share of the region’s natural resources and jobs in state projects as well as more political rights, and they also oppose the setting up of military garrisons.
