Friday, September 22 2006 15:41 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Islamabad: Tribal chiefs in Pakistan's Balochistan province have decided to move the International Court of Justice (ICJ) over what they term as violation of an agreement between the erstwhile Kalat state, the British and Pakistan at the time of the subcontinent's partition in 1947.

The decision was taken at a grand jirga (meeting) of Baloch tribal chiefs at the palace in Kalat, with the 'Khan of Kalat' Mir Suleman Dawood in the chair.

The declaration alleged that the agreement - aimed at Kalat state's accession to Pakistan - had constantly been violated since day one. The British did not heed the Kalat prince's demand that their state should be on a par with Nepal in its relations with England. Kalat acceded to Pakistan in 1948.

The meeting, the first after 130 years, comes four weeks after the killing of Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti, the controversial chief of the Bugti tribe -- a development that has unleashed violence and anti-government sentiments in Balochistan.

"The grand Baloch Jirga of Kalat demands of the government to do away with the official interference with the property of Nawab Bugti in Dera Bugti. The heirs of Nawab Bugti are the legal heirs of Nawab Bugti's property," the declaration said.

Baloch tribal chiefs, also called sardars, came down heavily on the "government-backed Dera Bugti Jirga" held recently and rejected the announcement about the end to the sardari system in Dera Bugti.