[Excerpt: The authorities shut off the main plant supplying gas to power
stations and fertiliser factories in neighbouring provinces to avert a
possible catastrophe, officials said.]
{Note: This is a contingency from attacks started last week.}
http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,11922025%255E1702,00.html
Pakistan sends troops to gasfield
From correspondents in Quetta
January 12, 2005
PAKISTAN has deployed paramilitary forces at the country's biggest
gasfield and closed its main plant there after a series of rocket
attacks by tribal rebels killed eight people.
Violence has raged for five days at the state-run Sui gas facility in
the poverty-stricken south-western province of Baluchistan following the
alleged gang rape of a woman doctor working at the plant.
In the latest incident overnight, two soldiers and two civilians were
killed in a fierce firefight between security forces and the tribesmen,
who have long pressed for more royalties and jobs from the gasfield.
"Paramilitary soldiers have taken control and set up a string of pickets
in the mountainous area around the Sui gas complex," an interior
ministry official said.
The authorities shut off the main plant supplying gas to power stations
and fertiliser factories in neighbouring provinces to avert a possible
catastrophe, officials said.
Sui, 320km south-east of the provincial capital, Quetta, is managed by
state-owned Pakistan Petroleum Limited.
The field provides gas to another government firm for distribution in
southern and northern regions.
"The plant has been closed as a precautionary measure because if, God
forbid, the plant was hit it would result in horrible tragedy," Rashid
Lone, managing director of the northern pipeline network, said.
The doctor, in her 30s and employed by the national petroleum firm, was
allegedly raped by two men overnight on January 2 and 3.
Tribesmen blamed security personnel but the victim has declined to lodge
a criminal complaint.
The interior ministry official said the alleged attack on the doctor was
being exploited by renegade tribes in their prolonged confrontation with
gasfield authorities.
Elders of the powerful Bugti tribe have long been demanding more money
for the use of their land for gas extraction and more jobs.
The situation at Sui has sparked concern over worsening security in the
economically vital area.
The 5215km Sui pipeline network is a major supplier of domestic gas and
has often been attacked by tribesmen.
President Pervez Musharraf has warned that offenders will be dealt with
severely unless the attacks stop.
Baluchistan, a vast and sparsely populated province bordering
Afghanistan and Iran, has become a new focus for discontent since the
Government announced plans to build three new military bases there.
Agence France-Presse
enditem
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