Bugti agrees to end feud with Mazaris

Prime Minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali and the Jamhoori Watan Party chief and former Baloch-istan chief minister Nawab Akbar Bugti agreed yesterday to end the long drawn-out tribal feud with the Mazaris of Rajanpur.

The fighting between the two tribes in the southern Punjab and Balochistan has so far claimed hundreds of lives besides causing a loss of millions of rupees to the exchequer as a result of repeated gas pipeline blasts.

With Jamali facing increasing criticism for his failure to ease the tension, despite being himself a Baloch tribesman, the signs that Bugti is willing to compromise will come as a huge relief.

The Bugti-Mazari clash remained in the spotlight for quite sometime before the government finally decided to launch a crackdown on the feuding tribes to restore law and order in the area constituting three provinces - Balochistan, Sindh and Punjab.

"The government will not have to resort to the use of force as Akbar Bugti seemed flexible to resolve the matter as long as his monetary interests are protected," a highly-placed source privy to the decision making process disclosed.

At present the federal government is paying a huge amount as royalty on the natural gas produced at Dera Bugti. On top of this Pakistan Petroleum Limited is paying a staggering Rs60 million annually to the Nawab for what might be described as "peaceful exploration" in the area.