Sunday, September 03, 2006 E-Mail this article to a friend Printer Friendly Version
Bugti operation ill-conceived, badly-handled: ex-generals
* Say army shouldn’t have been used to capture Bugti
* Regime must end practice of unilateral action
By Zulfiqar Ghuman
ISLAMABAD: Pressure is mounting on President General Pervez Musharraf. Not only have an increasing number of politicians already slammed the August 26 military action that resulted in the death of Nawab Akbar Bugti – several former top military generals and erstwhile Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chiefs have also joined the chorus.
According to former chief of army staff, General (r) Mirza Aslam Beg: “It was an ill-conceived idea and badly-handled operation to capture an 80-year-old man (already) disowned by his own tribe and hiding in a cave. The second mistake was that the task to capture Nawab Bugti was given to (the) Pakistan Army, instead of other law-enforcement agencies, despite the knowledge that he would die fighting instead of surrendering to military force.”
General Beg identified Islamabad’s third and most serious mistake as failing to hand over Bugti’s body to his relatives for last burial rites. “It was not in consonance with our culture. This has become our sarkari culture – to do the things contrary to cultural norms and national laws.”
He predicted that Bugti’s death would give new impetus to both nationalist parties and the political opposition, which, he said, had so far failed to create any real challenge to the military-led regime.
Former ISI chief Lt Gen (r) Hamid Gul went one step further and called for Supreme Court intervention.
“I think the Supreme Court of Pakistan should take suo moto notice of the incident and investigate whether the military operation and excessive use of force was the only way of capturing Bugti. Responsibility should be fixed and the nation, which has to pay the price for this action, must know the facts.”
As for Lt Gen (r) Talat Masood, he believed that Bugti’s killing would lead to the army facing an increased insurgency in Balochistan, thereby necessitating greater military deployment in the province. This, he said, would bleed both the army and its resources dry.
“The situation will become vulnerable in Balochistan, with army troops already deployed at the eastern and western borders. This would further increase defence force expenditure, resulting in an increase in the defence budget. Foreign elements will also take advantage of the situation.”
Another former ISI chief, Lt Gen (r) Assad Durrani, criticised the military operation, stressing that internal problems should be resolved politically. “The use of military (force) is always the last option. It comes after all political options have been exhausted. And even then, (the) military should remain at the back of law enforcement agencies and not be directly involved against its own people.”
He said that the army should not have been deployed for this particular operation. “As far as the issue of Balochistan is concerned, the military should have not been used and if it was necessary, its participation should have been kept to a minimum.”
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2006\09\03\story_3-9-2006_pg1_1