Volume 7, No. 1, January 2025
Editor: Rashed Rahman
The confrontation between Nawab Akbar Bugti and the Pakistani state continued to exacerbate and there were small incidents until on March 17, 2006, Dera Bugti was bombarded with artillery and a lot of people, including 33 Hindus who were in Nawab Akbar Bugti’s compound and many Bugtis were killed and wounded. Despite cosmetic efforts by some parliamentarians and civil rights leaders to restore peace, Akbar Bugti felt he was not safe there and went into the mountains with his tribesmen as his fighters escort.
Balach Marri, Khair Baksh’s son, had continued his armed resistance. When Musharraf went to Kohlu with fanfare in mid-December 2005, they also invited Balach to attend but he had different ideas. When Musharraf was announcing schemes and grants there on December 14, eight rockets were fired at the venue, which fell short. However, Inspector General (IG) Frontier Corps (FC) Major-General Shujaat Zamir Dar and Deputy IG Brigadier Saleem Nawaz were injured when their helicopter was fired upon from the mountains near Doda Pir from where the earlier rockets had been fired. They were lucky as the pilot was able to return to Kohlu. They were then ferried to Quetta for treatment. After this incident when I visited Nawab Khair Bakhsh Marri he told me that Balach had inquired in a message if he had done the right thing to which Nawab Sahib had replied: “Why did you miss?” Nawab Sahib had wanted those rockets to have proved more effective.
Nawab Akbar Bugti was 79 years old and suffered from ill health. It was a desperate measure for him to move into the mountains at that age and in that condition. He was now in direct confrontation with Pakistan and its army and he was being sought. As I have said before, had he not cooperated with Bhutto and the army in 1973 and taken up the stance of defiance and confrontation when his tribe too was united and all other Baloch were fighting, the Pakistani state would have been swamped by insurmountable problems and at the very least would have come to the negotiating table. Now in 2005 his tribe was divided and except for the Marris under Balach and some elements in the newly formed Balochistan Liberation Front (BLF), no one was fighting. This was a rearguard action and victories could not be expected from the position they were now in. But he remained defiant and though he was not in a very strong position, he was feared by the state and they kept on pursuing him.
By a very strange turn of history and irony, Nawab Akbar went to the Marri area as the Bugti area was being scoured and harassed. Not that the Marri area wasn’t but he must have felt that the forces of the Bugtis and Marris together may stand a better chance. It was in the Calgari area of the Marri territory that the final confrontation took place and he along with some of his companions was martyred on August 26, 2006. Had he not been incapacitated by his age and ailments he perhaps could have proved a more potent opponent to the Pakistani army. The Bugti tribe was divided and that was one of the reasons he couldn’t stay in the Bugti area. However, in death he proved to be a more potent force as the Bugtis under his grandson Brahamdagh began resisting the Pakistani state and army. There has been resistance from the Bugtis and repression from the state and sadly, brazen connivance by those of Akbar’s family who support the Pakistani state. These collaborators get perks in return, though here perks and humiliation go hand in hand.
Balach and Brahamdagh joined up and this was considered a big threat as both were young and had the support of large sections of their respective tribes as the martyrdom of Akbar Bugti had galvanised the people of Balochistan in general and the Bugti and Marri tribes in particular. They had to go to Afghanistan to remain secure. Brahamdagh was there till 2010 before moving to Switzerland and is still there though his asylum appeal has been rejected.
Balach continued the fight. He commuted in the rough border terrain between Afghanistan and Pakistan and kept the pot boiling. In circumstances never quite brought to light, he was killed on November 21, 2007. It was a deadly blow to the resistance as he was a dynamic leader and represented a hope among the people. He was irreplaceable. He had the acumen and wisdom well beyond his years and he put it to very effective use.
History sometimes pre-empts disasters by producing circumstances or persons who are capable of tackling the historical tasks the struggle generates for a nation. Nawab Nauroz Khan, Sher Mohammad Marri and Sardar Khair Bakhsh were just such people without whom the Baloch struggle for rights may have just vanished and disappeared. Naming them I am not discounting the services rendered by their friends and others who fought for the Baloch rights with heart and soul and those brave ones who cared more for motherland than they did for their lives. Just to reiterate a point, national struggles are a collective act and not simply individual oriented; all together make the difference.
While the cauldron in the mountains was on the boil, those who felt the pain of the injustices in the cities weren’t sleeping either. I will just deal with the most important figure of the ongoing struggle and no prizes for guessing; yes, it is Dr Allah Nazar. He is what history created to pre-empt the disasters that were in the offing for the Baloch nation. He was an active member of the Baloch Students Organisation (BSO) but dissatisfied with the line and policy that was being followed. In the year 2002 he founded the BSO-Azad, which demanded an independent Balochistan. Knowing what the state response would be for such an action, he went underground to form the BLF to struggle for Balochistan’s independence. This group claimed responsibility for the killing of three Chinese engineers in Gwadar on May 2, 2004. This put a damper on Chinese enthusiasm in Balochistan for some time.
Allah Nazar went to Karachi to meet his old BSO comrades, BSO Chairman Dr Imdad Baloch, Dr Yousuf Baloch, Dr Naseem Baloch, Ghulam Rasool Baloch, Nadeem Akhtar, Nawaz Ali and Gohar Baloch and he was picked up by the intelligence agencies from an apartment on March 25, 2005. These friends had staged a demonstration on March 19 in front of the Karachi Press Club to protest against an FC attack on Jamhoori Watan Party chief Nawab Akbar Bugti’s house in Dera Bugti on March 17. The BSO and others agitated for Allah Nazar’s release. Finally on August 12, 2006, an emaciated, near-to-death Allah Nazar was shifted to the Bolan Medical Complex in Quetta with police registering a false case against him to absolve the intelligence agencies.
Once he was well enough, he went on to lead the BLF and still leads it effectively. In an attack on the home village of his relatives on June 30, 2015, 13 people, including a nephew, Mir Suleman aka Mir Shehak, were killed and then dragged by jeeps for a long distance. Allah Nazar has not wavered. His wife, who had come to Quetta for treatment, was arrested on October 30, 2017 but released a few days later when public pressure mounted. Umpteen times false news of his death has been circulated to demoralise the resistance. Dr Allah Nazar symbolizes the Baloch resistance as it is today and a lot of hopes are pinned on him and his ability to fight and survive and keep the enemy on its toes.
The differences between the BLF and the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) at that time were very detrimental to the cause as there were insinuations and attacks targeting Allah Nazar who had to ask his supporters to refrain from counter-attacks against the BLA leaders. But these were just verbal assaults while the confrontation between the BLA and the United Baloch Army (UBA) was physical and lethal, with casualties on both sides. These clashes occurred in June and November 2015 and very nearly put paid to the years of struggle as this armed confrontation between these two groups opposing the state produced disarray in both organisations. The focus was diverted from national liberation to internecine conflict. Sadly, offers for reconciliation by some elders were rejected. Since then the army has been able to build roads deep into Marri area. Were it not for the still surviving resistance, oil exploration would have begun in the Jandhran-Bhambhore-Pir Koh triangle.
Beginning of Kill and Dump policy
The year 2008 saw a vicious change in the government’s policy towards dissident Baloch. It will not be out of place to mention that the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) government had been formed in the Centre, Balochistan and Sindh after their electoral victory following Benazir’s assassination on December 27, 2007. It was in these years that the ‘death squads’ were formed and let loose to terrorise people and strike at Baloch dissidents with impunity. Interestingly, the Balochistan Police website says: “PPP formed a government in Balochistan and ruled in a coalition with Nawab Aslam Raisani as Chief Minister. Aslam Raisani chose Humayan Jogazai as CCPO Quetta, who was known to have close links with Lashkar-e-Jhangvi. During the start of his career, he ordered policemen to fire live rounds at Hazara protesters; 25 innocent civilians were killed. He was brought back to Quetta by Raisani and during his tenure, things once again took a turn for the worse, particularly for the Hazara community.” It was during the caretaker government under Saleh Bhootani that Usman Saifullah Kurd and Dawood Badini escaped from a high-security prison in Quetta Cantonment on January 18, 2008 and wreaked havoc.
The callous attitude of Aslam Raisani towards the Hazara was not surprising for he had chosen a CCPO with a history of brutal response towards the Hazaras. What was surprising however was that in the month of June 2020, he participated in the Baloch Missing persons camp to show sympathy with the relatives. He ignored the fact that the ‘kill and dump policy’ began under his watch and the Baloch suffered immeasurably. The perpetrators may have short and selective memories aiding them to regain lost ground but for the oppressed these are unpardonable crimes. The injustices that the Baloch have suffered should never be forgotten or forsaken.
At a hearing by a Supreme Court Bench regarding the allegation of taking money against senior journalist Nazir Naji on September 30, 2013, it was disclosed that the Intelligence Bureau (IB) had used Rs 400 million for counter-insurgency in Balochistan in 2008-2009. If IB alone used this sum in a year imagine how much the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) and Military Intelligence (MI) may have used. It was this secretively used money that created, promoted and funded the ‘death squads’ of Shafiq Mengal and the like. How much money was channeled from other approved but kept under wraps sources can never be known.
On September 21, 2010, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the National Assembly questioned an unaccounted-for, one-time release of Rs 5.55 billion to the ISI during 2007-08 for its operations. The only explanation it got was that it is a sensitive issue and nothing could be divulged. Looking at the money used by IB during the same period for counter-insurgency in Balochistan, one can safely conclude that this too was for the same purpose and this becomes even more apparent when we see the utterances by the army Generals. On July 21, 2011 in Quetta, the Commander of the Army’s Southern Command, Lt-General Javed Zia condemned the killing of missing people and dumping of their bodies in different areas of the province. He said this could have an adverse effect on the integrity of the country and cause the separation of Balochistan. He then went on to say: “Army considers the killing of missing people an abhorrent act.” He added that the army realised that it was a sensitive and serious issue and would create hatred in the country, particularly among women who received the bodies of their sons, brothers and husbands. He then went on to say that some elements who did not believe in the courts and the supremacy of law might be involved in such killings. He said that even if someone was involved in a crime he should not be treated in this manner. He did not clarify who those ‘some elements’ were but then came the Freudian slip. He said that some Baloch youths had burnt the national flag just for the sake of money or carried out subversive activities. As a result, they were hit by “patriotic elements”. Their ‘patriotic elements’ were the ‘death squads’ that they had unleashed on the Baloch. History was in favour of the Baloch that this ‘abduct, kill and dump policy’ was not being acted upon when Dr Allah Nazar was abducted. He fortunately came out alive, not that the loss of those thousands under this evil and vile policy is less detrimental to the Baloch resistance for the cream of the Baloch youth was disappeared and their bodies then dumped.
This is what some elements who did not believe in the courts and the supremacy of the law (read state agencies) and ‘patriotic elements’ (read death squads) did for they were given the authority to crush Baloch aspirations, whatever human cost it may entail. They were assured of immunity. The culture of impunity reigned. No one has to date been held accountable for these crimes against humanity whereby thousands of Baloch have been killed and many thousands languish in Pakistani dungeons.
The systematic and organised carnage as a part of state policy was set in motion on April 3, 2009 when three distinguished and respected Baloch leaders Ghulam Mohammad Baloch, President of the Baloch National Movement (BNM), Lala Munir Baloch, Vice President BNM and Sher Mohammad Baloch, Central Deputy Secretary General of Baloch Republican Party (BRP) were abducted by Pakistani security forces at gunpoint from their lawyer Ali Kachkol Baloch’s office in Turbat, Balochistan (Ali Kachkol eventually had to go into exile abroad). After six days, on April 9, 2009, their smashed dead bodies were found at Murghaap, 35 kilometers from Turbat. The beginning was gory and it became gorier with every passing day.
Jalil Ahmed Reki, son of Abdul Qadeer Reki (Mama Qadeer), was a member and Central Information Secretary of Balochistan of the BRP of Brahamdagh Bugti. He was abducted by the intelligence agencies on February 13, 2009. Mama Qadeer ran from pillar to post and heard a lot of promises but none were kept. After losing hope of justice, he, Nasrullah Baloch, whose uncle Asghar Bangulzai was abducted in the year 2002 and is still missing, and other affected persons formed the Voice of Baloch Missing Persons (VBMP). On July 28, 2009, Mama decided to start a token hunger-strike for Baloch missing persons by sitting outside the Quetta Press Club. This token strike still continues and is the meeting point for the relatives of the missing persons. It is a unique protest where all affected families congregate for recovery of their loved ones.
On November 22, 2011, Jalil Reki’s body was found along with that of Muhammed Younis Baloch, a central leader of the BNM. This did not diminish Mama Qadeer’s resolve and he did what others think is not possible. He took his grandson Beauragh, son of Jalil, to the body so he should know what happened to his father and who did it. There were three bullet wounds near Jalil’s heart; his captors had done that due to venom and spite for having been unable to subdue his brave heart. The mutilated body of Sangat Sana, another victim of the state who was abducted on December 7, 2009, was found on February 13, 2012 with 28 bullet wounds. So many gems of the Baloch Nation have been brutally snatched from us and this continues to date. There are too many gems to name here, but people like Saba Dashtyari, Ali Sher Kurd, Sadaat Marri, Zaman Khan Marri, Qamber Chakar, Majeed Junior, Amir Bakhsh (Sagaar-e-Baloch), Mureed Bugti, Zahid Askani and so many, many more.
After winning the elections, the PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari apologised to the Baloch people for past injustices. Little did people know then that under his watch from 2008 to 2013, the Baloch would be brutally treated and dealt with. Some were, however, beguiled by his promises. At the start of September 2008, the BLA, BRA and BLF announced a unilateral ceasefire, putting their trust in empty words while forgetting the essentially predatory approach of the establishment towards the Baloch because its interest was in exploiting the Baloch resources to sustain the war machine and oppressive state apparatus. People usually are confused when someone blames the ‘Establishment’ for everyone has a different image of it. Some think of it as the politicians while others equate it with the army. But I feel the 60-page report released on April 15, 2010 by the UN Commission on Benazir Bhutto’s assassination headed by Ambassador Heraldo Munoz defined it perfectly in the context of the Pakistani state. The Report’s definition stated: “The Establishment is generally used in Pakistan to refer to those who exercise de facto power; it includes the military high command and the intelligence agencies, together with the top leadership of certain political parties, high-level members of the bureaucracy and business persons that work in alliance with them. The military high command and intelligence agencies form the core of the Establishment and are its most permanent and influential components.” Unsurprisingly, this comprehensive definition of the ‘establishment’ was not looked upon kindly by the army, who went on record and rejected it forthwith, further reinforcing the belief that the definition fitted perfectly.
I would make a few additions and include in it the judiciary, which acts as a handmaiden of the powers that be, and also the IMF, World Bank, China and the US, because Pakistan being chronically and permanently debt ridden, needs lenders and investors to just keep the wolf away from the door. The above named extract their pound of flesh before helping Pakistan out. China is by far the most avaricious in its approach. For its China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and its One Belt, One Road initiative, it needs land, resources and concessions, which Pakistan is willingly providing it in Balochistan. This involvement of China has been invited by Pakistan because it doesn’t have resources on its own to tap the potential in Balochistan. The money and expertise will come from China and all Pakistan is doing and will do is to act as a ‘hired gun’.
Mistakes will always be made if the true nature of some states is not understood. I had gone to meet Sardar Khair Bakhsh Marri sometime after the ceasefire announcement by BLA, BRA and BLF and asked him, for I was surprised by that decision, what he thought of it. He said: “It is incomprehensible for me what the reason behind this decision is and what gains could come from it.” Nothing came out of it as those who had apologised were but rubber stamps and a façade for the establishment. At the start of the next year in January 2009, having got no response except the continued brutal one, they announced the end of the ceasefire with an attack on the Quetta Express at Nothal in Sibi District.
(To be continued)