Tribal clashes erupt again after landmine blast

Just as it seemed that tribal violence, mainly between the Bugti and Mazari tribes in the southern Punjab and Balochistan, was dying down, renewed battles have broken out after an incident several days ago.

Two Mazari tribesmen were killed in a landmine blast near the inter-provincial border in Rojhan tehsil, Rajanpur, on Tuesday. Ghulam Mustafa and Abdul Salaam were on way to Mazari Goth by motorcycle when they hit the mine while ascending a causeway early in the morning.

Eyewitnesses said that the blast was so powerful that it left the bodies and the two-wheeler scattered over two acres.

Hailing from a nearby village, the two were coming to Mazari Goth to inquire about the safety of its residents after an alleged attack by rival Bugti tribesmen a few hours earlier.

More than a dozen assailants had attacked Mazari Goth late in the night. The attackers reportedly crossed into the Punjab area from Balochistan in two pick-ups.

The assailants fired rocket propelled grenades, submachine guns and AK-47 rifles for at least an hour and then drove back to Balochistan. Residents took refuge in the ditches around the village to escape the attackers.

Surprisingly, neither the Rangers nor police bothered to stop the attackers. The government had deployed 300 Rangers personnel and two platoons of the Punjab Constabulary at Mazari Goth to protect the gas pipelines passing through the area from Sui to Punjab.

As the area of landmine blast was situated on the inter-provincial border between the Punjab and Sindh, the Rajanpur police called the revenue department officials to decide whether the scene of blast came under the Punjab.

The Dera range DIG police, Asif Nawaz, said that the revenue officials had informed "it is not the Punjab". But the Sindh police have yet to confirm whether the area comes under their jurisdiction or not. The DIG, however, confirmed that Mazari Goth was attacked.

Denying police claims, Rojhan Tehsil Nazim Rafiq Azam Mazari insisted that the area of landmine blast fell under Punjab. He criticised the apathy of the Rangers and police and alleged that the government wanted Mazaris to migrate from Mazari Goth and other villages along the Sui Road to please the Bugtis.

He said the failure of the state apparatus in Mazari Goth to check tribal clashes could be gauged from the fact that the government had so far tried to resolve the crisis through administrative officers, bypassing the local bodies' elected representatives. "None has so far bothered to involve us at any level," the Nazim said.

Mazari Goth, 340 km from Lahore, has become notorious after Bugti tribesmen blew up gas pipelines on January 21 and January 26.

Bugti chief Nawab Akbar Khan, however, claimed that "the gas pipeline blasts have nothing to do with the Mazari-Bugti feud."

After the January 26 attack, the government deployed the Rangers and the Punjab constabulary at Mazari Goth to protect the area from 'Bugti onslaught.' But, the deployment of paramilitary forces at the Sui Northern Gas Pipeline Ltd (SNGPL) expense has made no difference to the tribe's violence.

The local people said presence of the law enforcers had made the Bugtis more 'confident,' as they now cross into Punjab to attack because they know that Mazaris can't retaliate because of restrictions on them to carry arms for being part of Punjab.