Pakistan government declared red alert in the rest of the country, especially Karachi and Lahore, anticipating heavy public protest over the killing of Bugti, who along with a large band of tribesmen waged an armed revolt against Pakistan demanding more autonomy and removal of military cantonments from the sparsely populated province, the country’s biggest but poorest despite being rich in gas and other natural resources.

Main Opposition parties’ leaders including former premier Nawaz Sharif of PML-N, PPP’s Makhdoom Amin Fahim and MMA’s Hafiz Hussain Ahmed expressed shock over Bugti’s killing. Former Prime Minister and senior leader of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Q (PML-Q) Zafarullah Khan Jamali said Bugti’s killing could have “negative consequences” for the country. Himself a tribal leader from Balochistan and handpicked by President Musharraf to be Prime Minister after the polls in 2002 but later replaced by Shaukat Aziz in 2004, Jamali told Geo TV that Bugti was a “respectable figure” in Balochistan. “Its repercussions could be negative,” he said.

Senior PPP leaders Amin Fahim and Raja Rabbani said the killing of Bugti was condemnable. They warned against emergence of a 1971-like situation which resulted in the creation of Bangladesh, said PPP spokesman Faratullah Babar.

-K J M VARMA