Dera Bugti, Sep 2 (IANS) Baloch leader Akbar Khan Bugti was Friday laid to rest at his ancestral graveyard at Dera Bugti in Balochistan amid heavy security arrangements though none of his family members were present on the occasion, Online news agency reported.

Maulana Mohammad Malook Bugti from the tribe led the funeral prayer after the sealed coffin of Nawab Akbar Bugti was brought to Dera Bugti in a helicopter from the site of Kohlu.

The body of the slain leader, who was 79, killed in a military operation last Saturday, was retrieved Thursday evening from the rubbles of the cave where he was supposed to be hiding in Balochistan's hilly interior.

After the funeral prayers Bugti was laid to rest in his native graveyard along side his brother Ahmed Nawaz Bugti and son Saleem Bugti.

No one from the Bugti family attended the funeral prayers and less than two dozens people attended his funeral.

Stern security arrangements were made for this occasion.

Dera Bugti DCO Abdul Samad Lasi was quoted by Online as saying that the heirs and relations of the deceased were contacted for attending the funeral and waited for them for over 20 minutes but they did not show up.

The official told reporters that the condition of the body was deteriorating, as it was lying in the cave for several days, which had made its immediate burial imperative. He also said there was no need to show the face of late Bugti as Maulana Malok had already identified him.

He said a ring, glasses, watch and cane had been found from near the body due to which the body was identified as that of Nawab Bugti's.

Lasi told that Bugti's face and legs were intact while the middle part of his body was badly damaged as it had come under a boulder.

The government would cooperate in holding a DNA test if anybody had any suspicion of the identity of the body, the official said.

Meanwhile, Agha Shahid Bugti, the general secretary of the late leader's Jamhori Watan Party (JWP) termed the burial as regrettable act. He said burying the body in the absence of the family members was not Islamic.

He said journalists attending the funeral were not allowed to see the face of the late Nawab.

The news of the leader's burial became public even as the government braced to meet nationwide protests spearheaded by major opposition parties and alliances that alleged that the killing was deliberate.

Veteran Baloch leader Sardar Khair Baksh Marri termed the death of Bugti as "a targeted killing" and feared that his own son, Balach Marri, could be the next target.

Balach Marri, who was away in Dubai, was detained on returning home by the authorities last month. The government had the "mistaken notion" that Marri was the epicentre of all anti-state and terrorist activities, and Balach Marri was an "icon of resistance", the senior Marri said in an interview in the Dawn newspaper.

Fearing that Nawab Bugti's grandsons could also be "targeted", he said he prayed for their safety and was determined to assist them.

Meanwhile, in an attempt to blame India for its internal political crisis, Pakistan's Parliamentary Affairs Minister Sher Afgan Niazi charged in the National Assembly that the "huge quantity of ammunition and currency recovered from the cave" was provided by "our neighbouring country to Akbar Bugti via Kabul".

Pakistan has for long been accusing India of fomenting trouble in Balochistan via the embassy in Kabul and consulates in Afghan cities close to the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.

This and a number of observations that the minister said were "personal", incensed the opposition, which boycotted the proceedings after nine separate adjournment motions it had submitted were disallowed Thursday by Speaker Chaudhry Ameer Hussain.

Niazi's justification of Bugti's killing angered the opposition in the National Assembly. "It is a right action if Bugti was killed in an encounter," The Nation quoted Niazi as saying.

The media noted that the chair had followed an "unprecedented" procedure in allowing the minister to speak and air personal views, although he had not given any notice. The News International said that even when the treasury bench members protested, Niazi said his remarks were "personal" and did not reflect the government's view.

Before boycotting the proceedings in the House, the opposition members charged that the Baloch leader Nawab Akbar Bugti had been killed in a military operation wherein the security forces had used chemical weapons. Niazi denied the charge.