QUETTA, Dec 11: Jamhoori Watan Party President Nawab Akbar Bugti and Balochistan National Party patron Sardar Attaullah Mengal have said that the government is planning a military action in Balochistan. Talking to the BBC on the Balochistan situation, Nawab Bugti said that the Rangers from Punjab and Sindh and Frontier Corps had surrounded the province and could launch an attack any time.

He said the number of FC troops deployed in Balochistan had been increased to 15,000, adding that a low-level military operation had already been started in Turbat, Naushki and Qalat.

The JWP leader denied involvement of the Baloch people in recent bomb blasts.

Sardar Mengal told the BBC the government had closed political ways and was dealing (with Balochistan) with force.

He said that he did not have any knowledge about the Baloch Liberation Army and the Baloch Liberation Front but he ‘morally supports them as they are operating for the cause of Balochistan’.

Commenting on the Kalabagh dam, he said that there would be no talks with President Pervez Musharraf on that issue, adding that Baloch people would resist construction of the dam.

The FC officials, on the other hand, said no military operation was being conducted in the province, adding a survey was carried out by FC officials in Naushki and Qalat from security point of view and not for military purpose. —-Online