'Neighbouring country' gave munitions, money to Bugti: Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: Without naming any nation, Pakistan on Thursday said a "neighbouring country" had supplied a large quantity of ammunition and money to the slain Baloch nationalist leader Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti for his campaign against the government.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Sher Afgan Khan Niazi told the National Assembly that a "huge quantity of ammunition and currency" had been found from the cave in which Bugti was killed on August 26 during a Pakistan Army operation.

The munitions and money were "provided by our neighbouring country to Akbar Bugti via Kabul" and Bugti used the ammunition against security forces and national assets through his 'frari' (fugitive) camps, Niazi said.

Army spokesman Maj Gen Shaukat Sultan too spoke about the involvement of an "external hand" in the campaign by Baloch nationalists.

"Bugti was not fighting for public interest but he was involved in harming the country and innocent people," said Niazi, a defector from former prime minister Benazir Bhutto's Pakistan Peoples Party who became a loyalist of President Pervez Musharraf.

Niazi accused the Baloch leader of involvement in "subversive activities including destroying national assets, gas pipelines and railway lines besides the killing of innocent people and security forces personnel".

Sultan told an Indian TV channel that an "external hand" was involved in the Balochistan issue and supplying weapons to Bugti. "I am surprised why there is so much of interest by the Indian media on Balochistan," he said.