LAHORE, Dec 27: Talal Akbar Bugti, son of slain Bloch nationalist leader Akbar Bugti, on Saturday met Jamaat-i-Islami amir Qazi Husain Ahmad and won support for his 16-point agenda on provincial autonomy.

Mr Ahmad announced his support at a press conference after the meeting between both leaders, which took place at JI headquarters Mansoora. The JI amir said right of Balochs must be conceded on local resources all decisions regarding the province must carry the Baloch consent.

He also demanded investigation into circumstances leading to the murder of Akbar Bugti.

Mr Bugti demanded action against former president Pervez Musharraf. He said a first information report (FIR) was lodged against 150 people, including Gen Musharraf, then defence minister Rao Sikandar Iqbal, then interior minister Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao and Brig Mumtaz of the Military Intelligence. They should be brought to justice as promised by President Asif Ali Zardari, he demanded.

Gen Musharraf not only killed Bugti, but also hundreds in Lal Masjid and Tribal Areas operations. He must be prosecuted for these crimes, Mr Bugti demanded.

He dispelled the impression that the Bugti family was not patriotic and claimed that it was Akbar Bugti who had arranged a jirga, which decided to join Pakistan. Even now, the Bugtis and Balochs would fight shoulder to shoulder with the army if India dared attack Pakistan, he said.

The government has been informed about the miscreants in Balochistan but it did not move against them. The Balochistan governor and the chief minister are helpless in ordering an inquiry into the murder of Akbar Bugti, he said.

Mr Bugti castigated the Chaudhrys from Gujrat being “thankless”. Akbar Bugti had saved them from the wrath of Bhutto but they let murder of Bugti take place, which they could have prevented by taking a few dozen legislators to Gen Musharraf and opposing the murder of Bugti, he said.

Mr Ahmad claimed that Talal’s Punjab visit and announcing support for national defence at this critical juncture was a welcome step.

He took the occasion to criticise the government for, what he said, its diplomatic failure to counter Indian propaganda. “If India carries out surgical strikes like the US, the sovereignty of the country would evaporate in thin air,” he said.

“The government should quit the war on terror and the army be pulled from the western borders to make the US realise its mistakes. India has set up 26 centres of terrorism along the western border but Pakistan has failed to stop them.”

He said the Nov 3 steps of Gen Musharraf had not been legally sanctified. They must be abolished forthwith and the general should be tried. Unfortunately, whenever a civilian government took over, it also assumes dictatorial pretension … giving way to new martial law, he regretted.