Million dollar-prize for Musharraf's killer

A 'reward' worth more than a million U.S. dollars has been announced for anyone who can kill former Pakistan President Parvez Musharraf, when he returns to the country in the coming weeks, by the kin of slain Baloch nationalist leader Akbar Bugti.

President of the Jamhoori Wattan Party (JWP), Talal Akbar Bugti, told Pakistan's The International News that a 'fatwa' or decree by 36 religious leaders of the country, declaring him 'fit to be murdered'' was still in effect.

"The executor of this fatwa would be our hero," said Talal Bugti told the newspaper on Sunday, while his son Shahzain Bugt said that a bounty of about $11,000 "in cash" and a bungalow worth around $1.1 million would be given to Musharraf's killer.

"We will give Rs 1 million in cash and a bungalow worth Rs 100 million to anybody who kills Musharraf. And we will also provide him full security," Shahzain Bugti told reporters at Pir Jo Goth in Sindh province on Sunday.

Talal Bugti said that the 36-member Ulema-e-Ikram had held Musharraf ´wajibul qatal´ or ´fit to be killed´ for allegedly ordering the "murder of unarmed innocent persons" at Lal Masjid of Islamabad, that included his father.

Just days ahead of Musharraf's planned comeback, the JWP chief also said that he would personally move to the Supreme Court for an immediate arrest of the former President when he lands in Pakistan after his years-long self-imposed exile.

"We, in the petition to be submitted before the apex court, will seek his trial for capital punishment for killing Akbar Khan Bugti and innocents in Lal Masjid and throughout the country," he said.

Government officers meanwhile, told the country's Daily Times newspaper that prisons officials are getting ready to detain Musharraf in Mach Jail as an under-trial prison facing murder charges if he returns as announced.

The former president is wanted in the Nawab Mohammad Akbar Bugti murder case along with his accomplices, including his former handpicked prime minister Shaukat Aziz and Balochistan chief minister Jam Mir Mohammad Yousaf, the newspaper reported.

Akbar Bugti, a prominent rebel leader in Pakistan´s gas-rich Baluchistan province, was ambushed and killed on his way from the Bugti Hills to Marri Hills on August 26, 2006 in a military operation allegedly ordered by Musharraf.

The former president and leader of the All Pakistan Muslim League (APML), living in self-exile in United Kingdom since 2009, on last Sunday had said he would return to his home country between Jan 27-30 with an intention to contest parliamentary elections due by 2013.