 Paramilitary troops on Friday launched a house-to-house search for weapons in Sui, as the Balochistan cabinet meeting in Quetta asked the federal government not to send in the military against the tribesmen, a majority of whom are Bugtis, AFP reported.
| They're the ones shooting people up, aren't they? |
Hundreds of troops were involved in the operation focussed on villages in the vicinity of the Sui gas fields to flush out weapons and secure the facility, official Abdul Samad said. "So far there has been no arrest, but the search is progressing well," Mr Samad said. Meanwhile, Balochistan Home Minister Shoaib Nausherwani said on Friday that the provincial cabinet was of the view that there was no need for a military operation and the dispute with the Bugti tribe should be solved through political dialogue.
| "Everything's fine here! How are you?" |
The cabinet had asked the federal government to take "direct control" of the entire Sui town and assume responsibility for its security, Mr Nausherwani added. The Interior Ministry has marked five cities in Balochistan including Quetta as dangerous zones with reference to law and order, Online reported.
| Quetta? Dangerous? When did that start? |
This was stated in a report presented by the Interior Ministry to the Standing Committee on Interior on Friday. The marked cities include Dera Bugti, Sui, Khuzdar, Sibi, Gwadar and Quetta, with the Interior Ministry calling them "difficult areas". The report also stated that Sui was close to the Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan borders and several installations of national importance including two major gas compression plants and wells of the Oil and Gas Development Corporation (OGDC) were in the area and a 367-kilometre-long Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL) pipeline originated from Sui. The OGDC and Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) installations were under threat due to the volatile security situation in the area, it added. |