SANGHAR: Police on Wednesday stopped a large number of Bugti tribesmen from heading towards Sanghar and managed to avert a possible clash between them and Nizamani clansmen over registration of a case against Shahzain Bugti, the chief of Awami Jamhoori Watan party and grandson of the party’s founder Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti.

The case, pertaining to the alleged grabbing of agricultural land, fish farm and other properties in Sanghar, was lodged against Shahzain Bugti, Mir Ali Bugti and their associates by Shahid Nizamani and some members of his clan on Tuesday.

Sanghar remained shut for a second consecutive day on Wednesday in response to a call given by the influential Nizamani community against a raid on Shahid Nizamani’s house by a CIA party on Tuesday. The raid led to a day-long battle between Nizamanis and the CIA team backed by a bigger force of the area police.

While the CIA claimed they tried to arrest some wanted criminals hiding in a cinema located within the Nizamani Para (lane) and were fired upon by the criminals, the Nizamanis alleged that the police action had been carried out at the behest of Shahzain Bugti, Mir Ali Bugti and their associates.

The gun battle continued for 12 hours and brought life in the entire city to a standstill. No markets, bazaars, commercial centres, shops and fuel stations were opened on Wednesday morning as the Nizamani community had given a call for a total shutdown for the day. A few vehicles were seen plying on city roads while the protest also affected intercity road communication.

Groups of protesters blocked several roads in the city by placing burning tyres at various places. They raised slogans against the police over what they claimed “excesses against residents of the area to protect landgrabbers” and demanding release of all people picked up by the CIA and police a day earlier.

The area police had registered an FIR against 34 people, including Shahid Nizamani, under sections 324, and 34 of the Pakistan Penal Code on behalf of the state.

Mr Nizamani, speaking at a press conference on Wednesday, alleged that instead of arresting the suspects who had grabbed his lands and properties, the police targeted him and his associates by laying a siege to his house for 12 hours and using live ammunition and brute force against the residents of Nizamani Para.

He claimed that that 20 of his associates went missing following the police action and were believed to have been taken to some unknown place by the police.

In reply to a question, he alleged that a group of armed Bugti tribesmen led by Shahzain Bugti and Mir Ali Bugti had been occupying his 200-acre agricultural land, a fish farm, some diary farms and an orchard with around 10,000 trees.

He claimed that the banned Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) also had a ‘hideout’ within Sanghar but the law enforcement agencies had turned a blind eye towards it and its activists.

Reacting to the registration of an FIR against Shahzain Bugti and his associates, a large number of Bugtis took out a rally from Kot Nawab and head towards Sanghar city on Wednesday.

However, police blocked its way at Miyan, some four kilometres away from the city, to avert a clash between the rival sides. The hostility between them has already left at least two persons dead over the past few months.

Published in Dawn, October 2nd, 2014