QUETTA, July 5: The Jamhoori Watan Party has alleged that the government used jet fighters and helicopters on July 3 in a bid to kill its chief Nawab Akbar Bugti in the mountains where he has been living since leaving Dera Bugti.

However, the party said, Nawab Bugti had survived the attack and vowed to continue his struggle to protect the land and resources of the Baloch people.

JWP secretary-general Senator Agha Shahid Hasan Bugti, former chief minister Mir Hamayun Marri and former senator Amanullah Kanrani alleged at a press conference here on Wednesday that Monday’s attack was the third attempt to kill Nawab Bugti since March 17, last year, but tribesmen had foiled the attacks.

They said that at 8.30am on July 3, three planes bombarded the area. Between 18 and 20 helicopters dropped paratroopers and commandos there, but tribesmen took Nawab Bugti out of the area at about 5pm.

The JWP leaders denied rumours that the party chief’s grandson Mir Bramdagh Bugti was injured in the bombing.

They said that Nawab Bugti was waging struggle for Baloch people’s control over their natural resources. In a federation, the federating units had the right to raise voice for autonomy within the parameters of the Constitution, they asserted.

In reply to a question, Senator Bugti said a report published in the Time magazine had endorsed the party’s assertion that the government had used in Dera Bugti and Kohlu equipment, including helicopters and artillery, given by the United States for monitoring the Afghan border. He said it was up to Washington to ask the government why were these weapons being used against the Baloch.

Answering another question, he said talks for resolving the Balochistan issue could be held with an elected representative government which was serious about solving the problem peacefully.

The JWP leaders claimed that the rulers had been using for the past 58 years the state apparatus to suppress the political movement of the Baloch but the patriotic forces had defeated them.

They thanked the leadership of the Alliance for Restoration of Democracy for highlighting the Balochistan issue in a meeting in London on July 2 and said that the JWP accepted the decisions taken on the occasion.

They said the ARD leaders would be contacted on their return to the country for implementation of the decisions.

They asked the government to stop the military operation in Balochistan and attacks on Nawab Bugti, withdraw forces from Dera Bugti, Kohlu and other areas of the province and accept the just demands of the Baloch.