DERA GHAZI KHAN, Feb 10: Kidnapping and killing have become a routine in the tribal area and its adjacent settle area in Dera Ghazi Khan and Rajanpur as there is complete anarchy.

Residents in the localities and peace-loving Mazaris are helpless in the presence of outlaws who have been given free hand.

The Indus Highway has been for quite a long a trap for locals and passers-by. On Jan 3, 2002, a gang headed by Bugtis kidnapped a trader from busy Rujhan Chowk at 12:30pm. There are at least 20 Punjab police pickets alongside the highway from Rajanpur to Shahwali (last Punjab police station at the Sindh border). To the west of the settle area of tehsil Rujhan where the tribal area starts, its borders touch Balochistan and Sindh. In the tribal area, the border military police act as law enforcing agency.

The BMP have at least 18 posts and police stations in the tribal area of Rajanpur. Where there are so many hurdles, the culprits have easy access to enter Rujhan tehsil and committing crime.

Contributed by the administration’s apathy, the law and order situation is fast deteriorating. Not very different from previous, the incident in Rajanpur last year piled agony on the locals. Cases of kidnapping for ransom by the Bugti gang appeared unusually. They even stretched their hands to the settle area although there was a network of the BMP and the Punjab police. Only once a gang carrying a Shadan Lond resident as abductee to Balochistan, scores of tribal people intercepted it. The gang surrendered following an encounter with the BMP. One of the gang members was allegedly shot dead by the BMP commandant.

However, the matter was hushed up by declaring the event into a strife between Bozdars and Jaffars.

In Rajanpur tehsil, the Bugtis had since 1994 been on the rampage. The Bugtis claimed their share from sub contractor Mazari. In 1999, a truce was brought on by the negotiations between Nawab Akbar Bugti’s brother Sardar Ahmad Nawaz Bugti, Zulfiqar Bugti (currently Dera Bugti Nazim) and Sardar Riaz Mazari, Rafiq Azam Mazari (Rujhan tehsil Nazim). However, nothing could be settled.

The Bugtis continued to torment people. They deprived political assistant and Rajanpur SSP of their jeeps. They kidnapped a doctor for ransom who was released after the payment.

In Dec 2001, three people Qasim, Chandi and Jaapan were kidnapped by the gang near the Shaikhwali BMP post. Those abducted were poor shepherds who could not got themselves released.

On Dec 11, 2001, one Karim Bakhsh got himself released from the kidnappers’ clutches after paying almost Rs200,000. A trader Ghulam Muhammad was kidnapped on Jan 3, 2002 from Rujhan Chowk. The same month, one Gulrani Mazari was shot dead by Esani a Bugti while Esani Mazari was kidnapped by a gang.

Rafiq Azam Mazari, the then Rujhan Nazim, along with his companions allegedly picked nine Bugtis from the Sui Road with the cover of the district administration. War against culprits turned into tribal clash. On Feb 3, three people from Mazari’s sub-tribe Gandi were shot dead before their family. Those killed were Haji Shehdad Gandi, Ramzan Gandi and Nabi Bakhsh. The next day, they fired rockets on the Dolli BMP post.

Being the sui gas employees, a majority of the culprits reportedly use department’s and the Balochistan government vehicles. They adopted the policy of hit and run.

Interestingly, the chiefs of both the tribes have kinship. Nawab Akbar Bugti and Mir Balakh Sher Mazari seem to be least interested in controlling the situation.

When contacted, the Mazari chief was not available in Rujhan. Former local MPA Shaukat Mazari told Dawn that the state should play a role in recovering peace in the region. He said the outlaws of the Bugti tribe should be nabbed first and then to form a super jirga of all the tribes in Balochistan and Punjab to resolve the conflict.

People in the area had lost their hopes of peace due to the ignorance of the administration, he said, adding regular force and rangers should be deployed on sensitive areas. Extra care must be taken on deployment on Zangi pass, Jattro pass and above the Mughal Chuk in the tribal area Rajanpur to stop the culprits.

The Rajanpur political assistant told this correspondent that it was not the tribal war but the panic created by outlaws patronized by hidden agents that worried people. He said Rajanpur SSP’s claimed it to be the tribal feud, adding the difference of opinion between two wings of the administration worsens the mess. The Rajanpur police reached two hours later where it could have easily nabbed the kidnappers of trader, he said.

One of those released by the outlaws told Dawn that he was abducted near the Radar installation of the Civil Aviation to the west of Rujhan, hardly a kilometre from the Indus Highway. He said the kidnappers took him to Neelagh (Bugti area) and kept him in cave for several days. He was released by paying ransom through three Bugti mediators who were sui northern gas employees, he added.

Some of the Rujhan residents alleged the local DSP had been patronizing the vagabonds. Acts like kidnapping and killing were not easy to execute, they opine, insisting the paramilitary force could best control the crime. If the authorities failed to take stock of the situation, days of anarchy would not be too far.

The interior ministry did not discern the ground realities the residents of the tribal areas were on a constant war with during the deweaponization campaign. They are unarmed and living under the sword of Damocles.