QUETTA: At least two hundred separatist militants, including 15 commanders, laid down renounced violence and laid down their weapons on Thursday at a ceremony held at FC Headquarters in Turbat. Chief Minister Abdul Quddus Bizenjo and Commander Southern Command Lt Gen Asim Saleem Bajwa were chief guests at the ceremony. The separatists announced submitting to the writ of the state and becoming part of the national mainstream, according to an official press release. Meanwhile, Switzerland has rejected the request of the exiled leader of the banned Baloch Republican Party (BRP) Brahumdagh Bugti to seek political asylum after more than seven years, just a week after imposing lifetime entry ban on the prominent exiled Baloch leader and Bugti’s brother-in-law, Mehran Marri. A source in the Swiss government confirmed that Brahumdagh Bugti’s asylum application was turned down because of his links with “incidents of terrorism, violence and militant activities” and the rejection letter clearly sets out these allegations. Bugti confirmed that his asylum application had been rejected by the Swiss government on the basis of allegations that he had links with the banned Baloch Republican Army (BRA).
Published in Daily Times, January 26th 2018.
