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| Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti |
After
a wave of terrorism started in Balochistan in 2004, Bugti was widely perceived
as a leader but went underground in 2005. On August 26, he was killed in his
cave in Kohlu, about 150 miles east of Quetta, leading to widespread unrest in the area.
Early
life and family
Nawab
Akbar Khan was born in Barkhan the rural home of the
rustic Khetran a (Marri-Bugti) Baloch tribe to which his mother belonged and now an upgraded
district of Balochistan, on July 12, 1927. He was the son of Nawab Mehrab Khan Bugti and
a grandson of Sir Shahbaz Khan Bugti. His immediate relatives were his brother Sardar Ahmed Nawaz
Bugti and cousin Sardar Ghulam Mustafa Khan Bugti. He received his early
education from Aitchison College and Higher Education from Oxford University.
In
politics
Nawab
Akbar Bugti was elected in a by-election to the National Assembly of Pakistan in
May 1958 to fill the vacancy created as a result of the assassination of the
incumbent, Dr Khan Sahib, and sat on the government bench as a member of the ruling
coalition. Bugti (Republican) served as Minister
of State (Interior) in the government of Prime Minister Malik Sir Feroz Khan Noon(Republican) from September 20, 1958, to October 7, 1958, when the cabinet
was dismissed on the declaration of Martial Law by President Iskander Mirza.
He
was arrested and convicted by a Military Tribunal in 1960 and subsequently
qualify from holding public office. As a result of his legal battles, he did not
contest the 1970 general elections. Instead, he campaigned on behalf of his
younger brother, Sardar
Ahmed Nawaz Bugti, a candidate of the National Awami Party.
However,
Bugti developed differences with the NAP leadership, especially the new
Balochistan Governor, Ghaus
Baksh Bizenjo. He informed the Federal Government and President Zulfikar Ali Bhutto (Pakistan Peoples Party) of the alleged London
Plan, which resulted in the dismissal of the provincial governor as well as the
Chief Minister Sardar Ataullah Khan Mengal and
his cabinet on February 14, 1973. The next day, the Federal Government appointed
Bugti as the Governor of
Balochistan, and the Pakistan
Army was deployed in the province as part of a
crackdown on the National Awami Party.
He
resigned on January 1, 1974, after disagreeing with the manner in which the
Federal Government was carrying out policies in Balochistan. The army had deployed 100,000 men inBalochistan and with the help of the Iranian airforce killed large
numbers of Balochis. Muhammad Raza Shah
Pahlavi, the King of Iran, sent F-14 fighter jets and AH-1 gunships along with his pilots,
to help Pakistan Army combat the insurgency. The Pakistani army is alleged to
have killed more than 4000 Balochi, mostly Marri insurgents,
in these operations. Akbar Bugti is said to have supported the military action.
There
was a lull in his activities when General Rahimuddin
Khan was appointed Governor of Balochistan in 1978. Bugti
remained silent throughout the course of Rahimuddin's rule, which was often
characterized by hostility towards the Baloch Sardars.
In
1988, he joined the Balochistan National Alliance and
was elected Chief Minister on February 4,
1989. His government frequently disagreed with the Federal Government led by
the Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto (Pakistan Peoples Party).
Bugti
resigned on August 6, 1990, when the provincial assembly was dissolved by
Governor of Balochistan General Muhammad Musa Khan in
accordance with the instructions of President Ghulam Ishaq Khan, who was exercising his
authority by virtue of Article 58 (2 b) of the Constitution of Pakistan. For
the 1990 General Elections, Bugti formed his own political party, the Jamhoori Watan Party (JWP),
being Balochistan's single largest party and was elected to the provincial
assembly.
In
1993, he was elected to the National Assembly of Pakistan,
representing the JWP in parliament. Also, in 1993, Nawab Bugti announced his candidacy
to be President of Pakistan but later withdrew his candidacy and announced his
support of the eventual winner, Sardar Farooq Ahmed Khan Leghari. In 1997,
Nawab Bugti was re-elected to the National Assembly of Pakistan,
representing the JWP.
Balochistan conflict
Bugti
was involved in struggles, at times armed ones, in Balochistan in the 1950s,
1960s, and 1970s. He led the current movement in Balochistan for greater
autonomy. He was the public face and provided political support for the
movement while his grandson, Brahamdagh Khan Bugti, led the Bugti
tribesmen.
In
recent years, he was accused by the Pakistani government of being a warlord and running a well-organized militia, sometimes thought to be the shadowy Balochistan Liberation Army(BLA)
with members numbering in the thousands. The BLA allegedly ran dozens of
militant guerrilla training camps. While campaigning from the mountain ranges
of Dera Bugti, he was, according to the Pakistani
government, directing a “Mullah Omar” style guerrilla war.
In July 2006, Pakistani president General Musharraf targeted him through aerial
bombing, using air force jets and gunship helicopters. The leader of Balochistan National Party, Sardar Akhtar Mengal said,
"The increase in bomb attacks in the Bugti and Marri areas are meant to
target Baloch nationalist leader Nawab Akbar Bugti and his associates" and
called upon the international community to take note of the situation.
Death
On
Saturday August 26, 2006, around 2230 hrs (PST), Bugti was killed when a shell exploded in the cave in which he was hiding. The Pakistani government says that he
killed himself along with senior security officials by firing a shell when he
was cornered by the Pakistani officials who had come unarmed to arrest him,
resulting in the collapse of the cave. Six Pakistani troops including one
colonel & two majors also died who went there for negotiations.
Pakistani
President Pervez Musharraf termed his death a victory for Pakistanis and
congratulated the secret service chief who carried out this brutal
operation. Pakistan's Information Minister Mohammad Ali Durrani, confirmed
that the operation included both air and ground assault. In a short telephone
interview, made to a private television network, the Pakistani Information
Minister said that Bugti's death occurred as the cave he was in collapsed.
In
a recent article the Pakistani Journalist Hamid
Mir said that the last time that he talked to Nawab Bugti, he
was in the mountains and had called Mir from his satellite phone. In this last
conversation with Hamid Mir, Nawab Bugti told him "Read Mir Gul Khan Nasir's book on the history of Balochistan. The Baloch have always
resisted unconstitutional measures.I'm not a traitor, the people who go against
the Article 6 and take control of Pakistan are the real traitors. I, like Mir Gul Khan Nasir, only put forward the demand for Balochistan's rights. But in
General Musharraf's view this is a crime punishable by death. (Bugti Laughs
then continues) Your commando general will rest only after he martyrs me but
after my martyrdom he will be held responsible. So now it's up to you people to
either choose Musharraf or Pakistan. The choice is yours."
Funeral and rioting
Bugti's
death was followed by rioting by hundreds of students from the state-run
Balochistan university. As the news flashed across television screens in
Pakistan, the government deployed Rangers and paramilitary forces across major
cities to prevent a backlash and impose a curfew in the provincial
capital, Quetta. Security
arrangements for the Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf have been beefed up
to the highest level, and his movement has since been very restricted, fearing
a retaliatory attack. Security arrangements have been further enhanced in and
around all airports of Pakistan. The media both in Pakistan and outside have
severely condemend the killing as the "[m]ilitary’s second biggest blunder
after Bhutto’s execution" and calling it a "political
nightmare". Others have likened it to the East Bengal crisis of 1971 where military violence eventually led to
the Bangladesh Liberation War.
On
August 27, 2006, some private media broadcast news that Bugti's grandsons,
Brahamdagh and Mir Ali, are still alive, but no official confirmation has been
made.
On
September 1, 2006 Bugti was buried in Dera
Bugti with three locks on his coffin, next to the graves of his
son and brother. His family, who wanted a public funeral in Quetta, did not attend the burial, they protested against his body being
locked in the coffin.
The
Bugti grandson's consist of Brahamdagh Khan Bugti (son of Rehan Khan Bugti),
Mir Aali Bugti (son of Salim Bugti), Washane Bugti and Sarang Bugti (Grandsons
of Sardar Ahmed Nawaz Bugti). Ahmad Marri and Muhammad Marri (Son's of Humayun
Khan Marri), Shahzain Bugti, Taleh Bugti and Gohram Bugti (son's of Talal
Bugti).
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