The present situation in Balochistan is anything but peaceful. The region is simmering with tension for reasons that are not so obscure. It’s time the authorities took steps to defuse the tension by lending an attentive ear to the Balochs and redressing their grievances

STRANGE are the ways of politics. Oftentimes political situations make heroes out of villains and villains are turned into resistance fighters overnight. These days, when one looks at what is going on in Balochistan, one instantly recalls the events of 1972 and onwards when about 80,000 army troops were deployed in the region to crush a Baloch uprising in the hills. There were many who were hounded, arrested and even tortured. Many of those rebels are now part of the military-civilian set-up in the province. The names of those who suffered long periods of imprisonment and carried head money on them can be mentioned. They are now government advisers, holding senior positions in the government — at least one of them is an emerging newspaper baron in Quetta.

And who is today’s hero? Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti, who according to Selig S. Harrison in his research work In Afghanistan’s Shadow: Baloch Nationalism and Soviet temptations tipped off late Zulfikar Ali Bhutto on Iraqi arms supply for Baloch rebels and earned governorship of the province. Nawab Bugti remained governor of the province throughout the military operation. In 1975 renowned bohemian poet Habib Jalib paid a visit to Balochistan and was invited by Nawab Bugti for lunch or dinner. Jalib said on the occasion: Sun bhaee Akbar Bugti, yeh jamhoori tehrik ab nahin rukti, and contemptuously turned down the invitation.

“I will lead the resistance fight if there is any military action in Sui,” roared Akbar Bugti in one of his many telephonic press conferences. Bugti has confined himself to his fortress-like home in Dera Bugti after his youngest son Salal was gunned down at the Jinnah Avenue in Quetta in the ‘90s, following a series of target killings between the Bugtis and a sub-clan, the Kalpars. The issue between the Bugtis and the Kalpars was the share in booty received from Sui gas installations. The Kalpars lived for generations near Dera Bugti but were eventually forced to vacate the area and were made to settle near Multan in 1995 or 1996 by the Benazir government.

The Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL) manages and operates Sui gas installations which are located on Bugti lands. It is a fact that Bugti draws a sizable amount every year from the PPL as rent for his tribal land. Some say the amount is Rs60 million a year, while others believe it is Rs90 million a year. Besides, the Bugtis are said to have a quota of employment in Sui installations. Akbar Bugti’s adversaries in Quetta insist that it is an all-ghost employees quota. Akbar Bugti pockets all the money that comes through wages. “He is the Pir Pagaro of Balochistan,” a retired government employee who is now an activist of Baloch rights, said. Pir Pagaro has provided a large number of Hurs to Pakistan’s defence services against which he is drawing heavy remuneration. The Pir never feels shy in calling himself a GHQ man.

Bugti’s son and grandson, along with 84 other persons, have already been booked by the Sui police station for damaging gas installations. About 7,000 regular troops aided by the Frontier Constabulary and Defence Security Guards, are carrying out house-to-house search. They have allegedly demolished many homes and rounded up more than 200 persons. The government’s position is that no military operation is being carried out in Sui or Dera Bugti and the army is only protecting gas installations.

But the Sui police station has been unable to interrogate two doctors of the Sui hospital in connection with the rape of a Karachi lady doctor in early January. On the third day of Eid, the two doctors of the hospital were brought to the police station. Sui security guards stormed the police station. It is said that the police ran out of the police station and took refuge in Kashmore. A private television channel reported this incident late in the evening on the third day of Eid. It was partially published in the next day’s newspapers.

The incident has brought into focus the issue of Balochistan government’s writ. The Naseerabad police station registered the rape case soon after it was made public at a press conference in the first week of January by one of the notables of the Bugti tribe. He informed the general public of the rape of a Karachi doctor in the Sui hospital, allegedly by four security officials and staff. He accused the PPL management of trying to put a lid on the case. The Naseerabad police station’s FIR pinpoints PPL officials who were creating impediments in the way of the case’s investigation.

The government has its own explanation on the issue. A government adviser said during a private conversation that under the devolution plan the Nazim of Dera Bugti is Nawab Akbar Bugti’s henchman. According to the devolution plan, the police come under the control of the Nazim. The police at Sui complies with the orders of the Nawab and Nazim, which explains the swift movement of security forces. But the question is: Why is not the Naseerabad police station, where the first FIR regarding the rape incident was lodged, allowed to investigate the matter?

Balochistan’s Chief Minister Jam Yousuf was in Karachi on January 24 and 25. He was due to visit the Karachi Press Club at a very short notice on January 24. A large number of journalists turned up at the club to seek answers to many questions. Realizing that some questions might prove too difficult to answer and cause embarrassment, the chief minister decided to call off his visit to the club at the eleventh hour saying that he was stuck at Uthal in connection with the burial of a friend. He was asked to visit the club the next day, which was politely declined.

A judicial inquiry into the rape case was ordered on January 11 by the Balochistan government. The judicial tribunal recorded the statement of the rape victim at Karachi on January 24. In this regard, it is worth noting that leaders of the Pakistan Medical Association in Karachi have expressed their fear that the doctor may be killed by her tribe in Khairpur where a jirga of elders declared her ‘kari’.

After the rape incident, the situation at Sui flared up and as many as 450 to 500 rockets were fired between January 7 and 11. Security guards clashed with armed men who attacked gas installations. PPL officials claimed that heavy damages were caused to various sections of the installations including the 400mmcf-capacity gas purification plant. Gas supply was suspended to the southern and northern regions of the country. It was said that repair work would take several days and involve a huge amount of money, making suspension of gas supply stretch for a period longer than originally expected.

Akbar Bugti denied that damages were caused by his tribesmen and said that instead of targeting ground installations they would have fired at the high-rise towers, which they did not. He bluntly blamed the security forces for damaging the equipment.

Subsequent developments proved that repair work was done within a few days and gas supply resumed in the southern and northern regions of the country with normal pressure in less than a week. It gives credence to Bugti’s allegations.

An inordinate delay in the investigations into the shameful rape incident at the Sui hospital, which seems to have taken place by design, and the way Akbar Bugti has been handled by security forces, give away the mindset of those who want “to sort out” things in Balochistan. President Musharraf’s interview to a private television channel in the first week of January added fuel to the fire and the situation apparently went out of control by January 7. The subsequent flare-up and exchange of fire at Sui between January 7 and January 11 has given every opportunity to security forces to bring in reinforcements.

Much before this incident, army leaders had expressed the intention of constructing three cantonments in Balochistan. One cantonment is to be constructed near the Gwadar port; the other near Sui; and the third at Kohlu, the stronghold of the Marris. The target killing of Chinese engineers at Gwadar last year provided a justification for such cantonments. It was said that the construction of cantonment would provide jobs to at least 10,000 Balochs in security forces. Besides, the construction of buildings itself would generate a lot of economic activities in the area. “Since when have cantonment constructions become a developmental economic activity?” Senator Sanaullah Baloch asked participants of a talk show on a private television channel programme. His question was embarrassing for participants of the talk show who kept on blaming the sardars and tribal chieftains for not helping the people of Balochistan progress.

That the majority of sardars (300 or 350) have always been with the federal government is a counter-argument which Islamabad finds difficult to answer. After all, the Jams, the Magsis, the Jamalis, the Khetrans and a lot of others have always been with the government. Those who have been resisting Islamabad can be counted on fingers. They are Ataullah Mengal and Nawab Khair Bux Mari. Nawab Bugti was a state defence minister before the 1958 military take-over. He remained in prison for some time not for political reasons, but on criminal charges. From 1973 to 1977 he was with the government that carried out a military operation in Balochistan in which the official figure of Baloch casualties was more than 3,000. Approximately 80,000 Pakistani troops and 55,000 Balochs were involved in a fullfledged battle. “At the height of the fighting in late 1974, the US supplied Iranian combat helicopters, some manned by Iranian pilots, joined the Pakistan Air Force in raids on Baloch camps,” informed Selg S. Harrison in his more than 200-page research work sponsored by Carnegie Endowment in 1977 just before Soviet tanks rolled into Kabul. The Balochs, according to Selig Harrison, lacked any foreign help and were armed with only bolt action rifles and homemade grenades. The unofficial army casualty figure during that uprising is mentioned being somewhere between 2,000 and 2,300 — and more than this figure sustained injuries.

In the current scenario in Balochistan at least two western newspapers, the conservative Telegraph of London and The Washington Times, have blamed Iran for its involvement in the situation. In this connection, local Urdu newspapers have also mentioned Zahidan Radio’s special programmes. “Zahidan radio has been broadcasting programmes for the Balochs for the last several years,” a retired senior information official in Quetta recently said. However, he made it clear that the programmes being currently broadcast do not instigate the Balochs.

“But why should Iran instigate Pakistani Balochs?” the retired information officer asked. Any trouble in Pakistani Balochistan is bound to spill over into Iran, and Iran cannot afford a trouble in its territory when it is under threat from the only super-power, the US. “You should better probe who is against the laying down of Pakistan-Iran oil pipeline right up to India,” he advised this writer.

Nawab Akbar Bugti in one of his recent telephonic outbursts held out an implied threat that the proposed Pak-Iran oil pipeline project could be completed only with the blessings of the Balochs. The question that springs to mind is: Why should a shrewd politician like Akbar Bugti bring the Pak-Iran oil pipeline project into this dispute?

Any telephonic conversation with Baloch intellectuals in Quetta is bound to bring up the issue of Gwadar. Many of them do not mince word to mention the name of the only super-power of the world which does not like Chinese involvement in the project. “Which country wants to control the sea lanes that ships oil from the Middle East to Japan and Europe?” is a question that is often raised in every discussion.

The Balochs have reservations about commercialization of Gwadar lands. This writer recalls an interview with Sardar Aslam Raisani in 1994 when he was senior minister in the Balochistan cabinet. “We will like to engage the best experts to construct the Gwadar port and to run it and manage it and give them the best salary packages,” Raisani had said back then. But he was very clear in declaring: “We will certainly not allow outsiders to purchase property in Gwadar or any part of Balochistan.”

The demographic imbalance haunts Baloch leaders who miss no opportunity to quote how the Sindhis have suffered in their homeland after urban and agricultural lands were grabbed at throw-away prices by the “outsiders”. And then there is the example of Palestine where the Jews from all over the world swarmed Jerusalem and other occupied parts, and are still building settlements.

Advertisements for sale and purchase of Gwadar property in the newspapers in Karachi and Punjab for the last two years have attracted the attention of the Balochs in Balochistan and Sindh. Study circles were formed in small towns and villages where Baloch students in Sindh and Balochistan discussed and debated the long-term implications of commercialization of Gawadar.

“We are not against development and acquisition of modern technology and management methods,” an official in Balochistan government with a history of affiliation with Baloch nationalists told this writer. He conceded that the Balochs are more backward than the other people of Pakistan. The sardars and chiefs dominate and control activities of the ordinary Balochs. “But this does not mean that others should come and take over our resources and lands,” he said.

Like other communities the Balochs are also divided on different political issues. But there is an unwritten consensus that they would remain an independent people as far as taking their own decisions is concerned. Like the Japanese, the Balochs are fiercely nationalistic with deep attachment to their land and traditions. Baloch students talk of the Baloch diaspora from Hilmand to Dera Ghazi Khan in Punjab. “Don’t forget we are 25 million in Sindh, Balochistan, Iran, and the Middle Eastern islands of Dubai, Abu Dahbi and other places.”

For the last many decades Qadir Bux Nizamani, a Pakistani exile in London, was in touch with 3,000 to 4,000 Balochs in all parts of the world through his publication which used to come out intermittently. Now there are more than eight Baloch websites that have made the Balochs come together on many issues.

The Human Rights Commission of South Asia organized an international gathering on the issues of the Balochs in the year 2000 in Khatmandu, Nepal. Baloch intellectuals from all over the world including from Pakistan, Iran, Afghanistan and the UAE, attended the meeting. For obvious reasons and because of pressure from Islamabad, the Nepalese authorities tried to disturb the gathering. But the meeting was held without any disturbance.

Way back in the ‘70s and ‘80s, it was the Soviet Union’s yearning for a warm water seaport that would come up whenever the Balochistan issue was discussed. In this respect, the US-based Carnegie Endowment for International Peace sponsored the research work on Balochistan nationalism in Afghanistan keeping in perspective the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan and a lurking fear of taking over Gwadar and other small sea ports.

Now the US controls Afghanistan. It is here in a few bases in Sindh and Balochistan as well. Quite a number of Baloch intellectuals and businessmen have often visited the US. Many of them have strong business connections there. What is the US’s role in the recent troubles in Balochistan? Is this issue worth debating in the media?

 

How it all began

IN 1946, when a British cabinet mission was visiting India to work out a future political arrangement after Britain would quit the subcontinent, the Khan of Kalat submitted a memorandum. The Khan’s contention was that in the subcontinent the legal status of Nepal and Kalat was different from that of other princely states in India. The “native states” maintained their relations with British India, but Nepal and Kalat were dealing directly with London. Under the same treaty, the British government gave special status to the Gorkhas. The British had signed a treaty with Kalat Confederacy in 1876. The Khan’s demand was that after the British would leave the subcontinent, Kalat should retain the status that it had enjoyed before 1876 and all its tributary states — Kharan, Mekaran and Lasbella — should be returned to its fold.

It was on June 29, 1947 that leaders of British Balochistan decided at a meeting that their region should be merged in Pakistan. However, the Khan of Kalat announced independence. He organized elections to form a 52-member lower house of the Kalat assembly. It was on the floor of the Kalat assembly in December 1947 that the 29-year-old Aligarh-educated Ghaus Bux Bizenjo declared: “We have a distinct culture like Afghanistan and Iran, and if the mere fact that we are Muslims requires us to amalgamate with Pakistan, then Iran and Afghanistan should also be amalgamated with Pakistan.” He demanded the newly independent Pakistan “to treat us as sovereign people, we are ready to extend friendship”. But if Pakistan did not do so, they would be forced to accept this fate, something that would fly in the face of democratic principle, Bizenjo warned, “every Baloch will fight for freedom”.

Since then, there has been no end to troubles in Balochistan. It has remained a disturbed region since 1947. Some say there have seen three, some say four wars ever since. The current situation, if it escalates into a war, may be the fourth or fifth in the last 56 years.

The first war was fought in 1948 when the younger brother of Khan of Kalat Prince Abdul Karim decided to resist. Prince Karim was Kalat’s governor in Makran. He took possession of all the arms and ammunition and collected treasury funds and crossed the border to Afghanistan in 1948. From Afghanistan Prince Karim issued a decree in the name of Baloch National Liberation Committee. But he did not find much support in Balochistan.

With the formation of One Unit in 1954 the Balochs were again up in arms. Prince Karim, after being released from a Pakistani prison, formed Ustoman Gul (People’s Party) in 1955. The Pakistan army moved into Kalat on October 6, 1958, and arrested the Khan. It happened just a day before martial law was declared in Pakistan. More than 500 Balochs were arrested and detained in sub-human conditions in what came to be known as the Kuli camp. On October 10, 1958, the Pakistan army fought a battle near Wadh with the 90-year-old Sardar Nauroz Khan. Baloch nationalists allege that many villages were bombed. Tired of unending battle, army leaders, according to the Balochs, invited Sardar Nauroze and other Baloch leaders for talks in 1960. They gave a pledge on the Holy Quran for safe conduct and a patient hearing of Baloch grievances. However, they arrested Sardar Nauroze, his son and some others. Sardar Nauroze died in captivity in the Kohlu prison. His son and five others were hanged.

All meetings of the Balochistan Students Organization (BSO) begin with an anthem in memory of Sardar Nauroze, his son and other Balochs. It was during the ‘60s that under orders from Ayub Khan, the Pakistan army destroyed fruit orchards of Khair Bux Marri.

Yahya Khan’s decision in 1969 to undo One Unit filled the Balochs with some hope. For the first time in history the province of Balochistan appeared on the map. Sardar Khair Bux Marri contested elections for the National Assembly and won a seat from Balochistan. Dr Abdul Hayee Baloch, then a young medical student at the Dow Medical College, defeated a prince of Kalat royalty to become the youngest member of the National Assembly. Ghaus Bux Bizenjo and the late Jenifer Musa were the other members from Balochistan.

The National Assembly drafted and approved the 1973 Constitution. Sardar Khair Bux Marri did not sign the Constitution because he was unhappy with the quantum of provincial autonomy. But Bizenjo and other Baloch members gave their approval and signed the 1973 Constitution. There was a built-in provision and the then Prime Minister Bhutto himself pledged to review the concurrent list of subjects after a decade, that is, in 1983. This was enough guarantee for the Balochs to seek the desired quantum of autonomy. Khair Bux remained sceptical. He argued that when the Bengalis, who were in majority, were subjected to excesses, how would the Balochs, who were hardly four per cent of the Pakistan’s population, be able to get their rights?

Khair Bux Marri is often called a disgruntled feudal and an arrogant Marri rather than a Baloch nationalist who is against all development work in his area in Kohlu. For many young Balochs, Khair Bux is a militant nationalist. Whatever the case may be, the fact is that the year 1983 never came and the concurrent list of subjects was never reviewed. Instead came the 1977 martial law. The amendments to the Constitution between 1977 and 1988 defaced the original Constitution beyond recognition.

The May 1998 nuclear explosion at Chaghi in Balochistan was another blow to the Balochs. Quetta was the only city in Pakistan where college and university students took to the streets to protest against nuclear explosions. The October 1999 military take-over in Pakistan further alienated the Baloch youth. Marri was implicated in a judge’s murder case and was arrested. The mounting discontent manifested in a flare-up of the situation in 2004 when rocket firing and bomb blasts became too frequent.

How autonomous the Balochistan government is can be gauged from the fact that its private member nominated on the National Finance Commission (NFC) has not lived in Quetta or in Balochistan for the last several years. Gulfaraz is a retired brigadier and a former federal secretary of petroleum and natural resources. His name was proposed by the Balochistan government but it originated from Islamabad. The then Prime Minister, Zafarullah Jamali, was reluctant to give his approval. But finally he gave in.

Balochistan has recently signed an agreement with the State Bank of Pakistan to convert its more than Rs10 billion overdraft into a block loan. The loan will be payable in monthly instalments of Rs100 million in the first year, Rs150 million per month in the second year and Rs200 million per month in the third year. The provincial government was compelled to take the overdraft from the State Bank because of resource scarcity.

Even a pliable Balochistan government is demanding a Rs600 billion compensation from Islamabad for exploiting Sui gas for the last 50 years. Out of total of gas consumers in Pakistan, hardly two per cent Balochs use gas in their kitchens.

Now there is a parliamentary committee headed by Chaudhry Shujaat which is working out a formula to satisfy the Balochs. The mainstream media now reports and advocates Balochs’ grievances stressing the need for justice. “It took more than 700 rocket firing, over 15 bomb explosions and deaths and injury to many besides arrest and detention of many Baloch youngmen in the last one year to convince Islamabad politicians and bureaucrats and the intellectuals of mainstream media of the grievances of Balochistan.” It is a cynical remark of a Baloch young man. But it speaks of the frustration that the young Balochs are going through. — Sabihuddin Ghausi