Quetta, September 1
The race for who would take on the mantle of the late Baluch leader Akbar Khan Bugti has started.

Dalal Bugti, who is the elder son of Akbar Khan Bugti is tipped to be his heir-apparent, as the younger son, Jameel Bugti, has made it clear that he is not interested in politics.

Shahid Bugti, who is a son-in-law of Akbar Khan Bugti, is in politics and controls a large number of resources of the Bugti family. He also controls the family’s main home in Dera Bugti.

Sources say Nawab Akbar Bugti has left behind property worth crores of rupees. According to one estimate, the late Baluch leader use to receive Rs 670 million per annum from a “deal” that he had signed with certain oil and gas companies.

“We cannot give the exact figures of the deceased Nawab’s property and assets, but they are certainly beyond one’s imagination,” a senior official of the Balochistan Government, was quoted as saying.

Nawab Akbar Bugti has left behind several undeclared successors, all of whom are now reportedly out to grab the title of Nawab and claim ownership of his assets, according to some sources.

Sometime last year, Bugti had tried to declare one of his grandsons, Brahamdagh, as his successor but could not muster the courage to do so as it went against established Baluch tribal traditions.

Additionally, the sub-tribal Waderas openly opposed the move to designate Brahamdagh as the next chief of the tribe for several reasons.

According to Baluch traditions, the eldest surviving grandson, with the consent of all sub-tribal Waderas, should be declared the successor. And in this case, Adu appears to have a chance. Being the eldest son of Akbar Bugti’s eldest son Salim, Adu, is now flexing his muscles, while hiding in mountain hideouts.

The slain Baluch leader had three wives — a Baluch and a Pushtoon, while the third is neither Baluch nor Pushtoon. Out of his first wedlock with the Baloch woman, he had four sons — Salim Bugti, Salal Bugti, Rehan Bugti (all deceased) and Talal Bugti, who had been living in Dubai since long and has now landed in Quetta. From his Pushtoon wife Akbar Bugti had one son, Jamil Akbar Bugti.

However, during his lifetime the late Bugti chieftain promoted Brahamdagh as his apparent successor. He allowed Brahamdagh to issue decrees and give decisions by holding courts, awarding punishment and was fast emerging as the ultimate choice of the late Bugti.

In the case of Adu, Akbar Bugti sent him to Sanghar to manage his lands and other affairs. Adu is reported to have never stayed in Dera Bugti for long and is not well versed with the Baluch traditions. — ANI

Durban, September 1
Fulfiling his promise, President A P J Abdul Kalam has sent a consignment of laboratory equipment worth $ 200,000 to a high school in a poor black residential area here.

The President had promised to provide Menzi High School in the township of Umlazi with science equipment when he visited the institution during his state visit to the country in 2004.

Outgoing Indian Consul General Ajay Swarup handed over the science equipment at an official ceremony yesterday during which the school Principal Felix Mshololo, Education Minister in KwaZulu-Natal province Ina Cronje and hundreds of local leaders and school students were present.

Acknowledging the gesture of President Kalam, the school Principal said he and his pupils were very grateful for the science equipment.

“We will now do everything in our power to ensure that the pass rate improves in our school. We are ever grateful to President Kalam and the Government of India for this wonderful gesture,” Mshololo said.

The provincial Education Minister Ina Cronje said the gesture cemented the partnership between her department and India and she hoped that the relationship would continue for the benefit of learners in the province and countrywide.

“The relations between India and South Africa are very strong and we know that this will continue to promote the interests of our people in India and South Africa”, she said. — PTI

New York, September 1
India's ruling Congress chief Sonia Gandhi has been listed as the 13th most powerful woman in the world in the annual Forbes listing, headed by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, which also has PepsiCo designated chief India-born Indra Nooyi in the fourth position.

Three other Indians also find place in the list of 100 — Joint Managing Directors of the Mumbai-based ICICI Bank Lalita Gupte and Kalpana Morparia in the 93rd position and Vidya Chhabria, the 58-year-old India-born Dubai-based chairperson of the $2 billion Jumbo Group, who gets the 95th ranking.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and China's Vice Premier Wu Yi follow Merkel in the second and third position.

Monarchs Queen Elizabeth II and Jordanian Queen Rania have found 46th and 81st rank, respectively. US Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton is listed in the 18th position, US First Lady Laura Bush 43rd and Bangladeshi premier Khaleda Zia is 33rd, states the Forbes' website.

Nobel peace laureate and jailed Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi is the 47th most powerful woman in the world, while Afghanistan's Independent Human Rights Commission chairperson Sima Samar is listed 28th.

CNN's chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour finds herself in the 79th position.

The enigmatic Gandhi had earlier figured in the list in 2004 in the third position, immediately after she refused the post of Prime Minister of India and appointed Manmohan Singh.

In its profile on Sonia Gandhi, chairperson of the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA), the magazine said: "Though critics used the move to call into question her power, Gandhi is still widely revered, especially among the country's poor millions." "Gandhi heads the Left-leaning party of Jawaharlal Nehru, where she acts as opposition leader to Singh, the pro-business Prime Minister. Gandhi frequently expresses concern that India's astounding economic growth is leaving the poor behind, and that her country is not doing enough to help its farmers." Ms Gandhi, who could not find herself in the magazine's 2005 listing, is now placed immediately after Melinda Gates of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Nooyi, a US citizen who was born in Chennai and graduated from the Madras Christian College and the Indian Institute of Management-Kolkata, is the first businesswoman in the list.

Praising Nooyi's management skills, the magazine said: "Few people could handle either the presidential or the chief financial officer job at a company worth $100 billion." Nooyi, who has held both offices since 2001, will take over as Pepsi's new chief executive from October 1.

The Forbes' listing is based on a "power ranking that is the composite of visibility (measured by press citations) and economic impact," says the website. — IANS

Islamabad, September 1
Officers attached with the Government of Pakistan have reportedly expressed their reluctance to be posted to riot-hit Balochistan, especially in the aftermath of the killing of Baloch leader Nawab Akbar Bugti.

According to The News, the federal government is facing extreme difficulty in transferring police and District Management Group officers to the province, which is dire need of them.

A government source told the paper that the authorities now apprehend that some federal officers already posted there might try to get themselves transferred out of Balochistan, given the present crisis.

Balochistan Government sources are apprehending some management problems in the wake of the post-Bugti violence, which has been targeting non-Baloch, non-Pakhtoon settlers, particularly Punjabis, in different parts of the province.

In view of possible threats to non-local officers, particularly those from the Punjab, the provincial authorities say this situation could be tackled by posting such officers to ethnically non-violent and safer districts of Balochistan and in the provincial headquarters.

The Balochistan Government is facing an acute shortage of federal officers. — ANI

Kathmandu, September 1
Maoists in Nepal have abducted a hotelier and his son after beating them up, the police said, even as government and NGOs accused the rebels of continuing with extortion and intimidation in breach of a ceasefire code of conduct.

Up to a dozen armed Maoists barged into a hotel at Mirchaiya area in Siraha district yesterday and beat up the owner and his son before taking them away in a jeep, The Kathmandu Post newspaper reported.

They had also badly beaten the wife of the hotelier as she tried to stop them, it quoted police as saying.

Home Minister Krishna Sitoula accused the Maoists of not abiding by past agreements and the ceasefire code of conduct. “Although the Maoist leadership has been frequently expressing their commitment to abiding by the accords, there have been ample of instances of violations at the local level,” he said.

Human rights watch group INSEC condemned the abduction and appealed the rebels to immediately release them.

Mr Sitoula also said all differences which had surfaced between the seven political parties and the rebels would be resolved after the next meeting between Prime Minister G.P. Koirala and Maoist chief Prachanda, to be held in the near future. — PTI