Bugti and the Baloch Cause

Letter from South Asia His government, Musharraf can claim with some justification, has increased public Bugti and the Baloch Cause investment in Balochistan manifold – mainly in the construction of a new port close to The killing of Akbar Bugti, the rebellious tribal chief and leader of the Persian Gulf at Gwadar, national high- ways linking that port with other parts of the the Baloch nationalist Jamhoori Watan Party by state security country, and other supporting infrastructure. forces in his mountain hideout marks an important watershed in All of these developments threaten the hold the troubled history of relations between the Baloch political that the tribal chiefs have over their people and the rebellion is a futile last-ditch attempt movements, the colonial British Indian empire and at stopping change. Akbar Bugti was “fixed”, the post-colonial Pakistani state. The circumstances leading up to and according to initial reports he indeed did his death and the events following after also reveal something not know what hit him – the latter being an about the contradictions within the establishment. allusion to advanced rocket navigation tech- nology allegedly used by the security forces against the tribal insurgents. HARIS GAZDAR There was a strong reaction also in the poor The problem with Musharraf’s colonial working class slums of old Karachi as well narrative on Balochistan, however, is that he killing of Nawab Akbar Khan as other Baloch neighbourhoods and urban there are many even in the Pakistani main- Bugti, the rebellious octogenarian villages around the city. For many of the stream who simply do not believe it. In one Ttribal chief and leader of the Baloch upscale denizens of the metropolis this was of his last interviews Akbar Bugti said that nationalist Jamhoori Watan Party by state a first realisation of the ancient and ubiq- the Baloch fight was about “lajja, namoos, security forces in his mountain hideout marks uitous Baloch presence in their midst. If izzat, ghairat” (a blend of honour, dignity, an important watershed in the troubled his- Akbar Bugti’s killing had sparked fury, the respect and sanctity) which he believed was tory of relations between Baloch political handling of his remains provoked outrage. the most important possession of the Baloch. movements, the colonial British Indian For days the government denied having Having established these psycho-cultural empire and the post-colonial Pakistani state. possession of the body. It then claimed to parameters he quickly moved to “rights and The circumstances leading up to his death have found the remains under the rubble of resources”. The “Baloch cause” in a nutshell and the events following from it also reveal the collapsed cave where the old chief had is about the terms on which Baloch people something about the contradictions within hidden. Finally, a sealed coffin was taken will engage with development. It is about the establishment. by military helicopter to Dera Bugti – a town a feeling of marginalisation, as well as about It was learnt late in the evening of now under the control of a rival Bugti sub- simple “mundane” issues like jobs, control August 26 that Akbar Bugti had been killed tribe – where it was buried in Akbar Bugti’s over land, dispossession at the hands of in the hills of Kohlu district in the Marri tribal ancestral graveyard without anyone from his migrants, and lack of participation in the use area. Bugti who had led his tribal followers own family being present. This act was widely of Balochistan’s natural and strategic into a confrontation with the Pakistan secu- interpreted across the country as a desecra- resources. rity forces was forced to leave his home in tion of the body. Did general Musharraf miss or relish the Dera Bugti following an escalation of hos- irony of inaugurating the supply of Sui Gas tilities in which his house was attacked by The ‘Baloch’ Cause (from Balochistan) to a hill station in north- rockets. The area of his tribal influence ern Punjab the day after Akbar Bugti’s includes the gas-rich Sui region of What is the “Baloch cause”? Why did it killing? In either case, it is clear that the Balochistan, which accounts for just under prove so intractable, that Akbar Bugti, a “Baloch cause” narrative has wide reso- half of all natural gas produced in Pakistan. former governor and chief minister of nance in the province and not just among Obituaries filled column inches describing Balochistan, who had taken an oath of followers of tribal chiefs but among urban Akbar Bugti’s character – hospitable, loyalty to the state of Pakistan on several middle classes, non-sardar regions such as straightforward, ruthless, cruel, charming, occasions as a member of national legisla- Makran, Baloch working class youth in violent, opportunistic and honour-bound. ture, had to die? And why, intriguingly, did Karachi, and the sizeable Baloch diaspora While he spent most of his life playing out the government commit such blunders with in west Asia. The lead-up to Akbar Bugti’s the role of a hard-bargaining but ultimately the dead sardar’s body? General Musharraf’s killing as well as its immediate handling pliant ‘sardar’ (tribal chief), his defiance of narrative on Balochistan revolves around indicates that there is much greater under- the military regime had turned him into a “development” and the “writ of the state”. standing of the “Baloch cause” even within symbol of the “Baloch cause”. The tribal chiefs are enemies of develop- the Pakistani establishment than Musharraf’s The manner of Akbar Bugti’s death ment, they hold their own people hostage, “fix them” paradigm suggests. elevated him to the pantheon of Baloch perpetuate a culture of backwardness, and In fact, there have been repeated attempts at heroes and martyrs that provide sustenance defy the writ of the state. In the general’s negotiation over the last two years in order to a political identity that produces rebellion words – that sometimes take on tones of to accommodate issues pertaining to the with remarkable regularity. Strikes were im- Bushism – those who defy the writ of the “Baloch cause”. The most significant move mediately observed across Balochistan, par- state “will be fixed” and “won’t know what was initiated by Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, ticularly in all of the Baloch majority areas. has hit them”. the leader of the governing Pakistan Muslim 4100 Economic and Political Weekly September 30, 2006 League, during his brief stint as a transitional not clear if anyone had been taken alive. It might elaborate charade that needed to be played prime minister last year. Shujaat is a quint- be recalled that general Musharraf prides in order to conceal this basic fact. essential deal-maker from central Punjab, himself on his own commando background, If the self-contradiction of the official whose career is based on purely transactional and his first public reaction was to congratu- storyline is reminiscent of the Pakistan politics. He, nevertheless, felt a personal late the troops on a “mission accomplished”. government’s bewildered communication connection with Akbar Bugti who as gov- The story took the opposite turn quite style during the Kargil war of 1999, there ernor of Balochistan had shown kindness to quickly, however, as civilian spokespersons is good reason for it. Then too, negotiation- Shujaat’s father while the latter had been for the government started to suggest that the minded mainstream civilian politicians – that incarcerated in the notorious Machh prison commandos had, in fact, been sent to arrest is, people who were not opposed to war in in the 1970s. Shujaat entered the fray at a Akbar Bugti alive but that they faced such principle, but found it disempowering and time when there had already been an attempt fierce firepower that they were forced to fire inconvenient from their standpoint – were to assassinate Akbar Bugti – security forces back in order to protect themselves, and that forced to publicly explain military actions shelled his house in Dera Bugti killing sev- Akbar Bugti died in that firefight. The ci- over which they had little control. eral people and missing him narrowly. vilian spokespersons – including Chaudhry The question is: why the impossible cha- Parliamentary committees were set up with Shujaat immediately expressed sorrow at the rade to maintain the incredible line that Akbar terms of reference which included the possi- killing and suggested that it was an unfor- Bugti was not targeted? Supporters of the bility of recommending constitutional change. tunate outcome rather than an operational “Baloch cause” will always uphold Akbar The matters that these committees were man- objective. The story then changed again, as Bugti as a martyr regardless of whether he dated to discuss included immediate security the government fenced demands by Bugti’s was killed deliberately or died accidentally issues – such as the deescalation of the standoff sons for the handover of their father’s re- during an operation to arrest him. Likewise, between state security forces and Bugti tribal mains. Now it was said that the government those who believe in Musharraf’s narrative militias – but also wider-ranging problems did not, in fact, possess the body and that on Balochistan would shed no tears for such as the question of jobs for locals, a re- it was buried under the rubble of a collapsed Akbar Bugti either way. What made it neces- negotiation of Balochistan’s mineral and natu- cave. This immediately raised questions about sary for the civilian politicians from central ral gas royalties, provincial fiscal awards, the recovery of the bodies of the troops who Punjab and elsewhere who are fronting the domicile conditions for voter registration, a had died and had been given military funerals.

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