Tejas Patel

 

"Let them win their battles, the Baloch will win the war," said Baloch tribal leader Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti just a few days before he was killed.

Pakistani security forces killed the 'Tiger of Balochistan', along with 37 armed tribals, in a military operation in Chalgri area of Dera Bugti district on August 26.

Bugti, 79, a former senator and governor of Balochistan, was leading a fight against the Pakistan government for autonomy of the region.

Experts said President Pervez Musharraf had committed a blunder by ordering the killing of a leader of Bugti's stature.

Politicians feel that such oppressive operations against its own citizens resulted in the creation of Bangladesh in 1971 and Musharraf had once again created similar conditions.

Pakistani media termed the incident as the second biggest military blunder since Zulfikar Ali Bhutto's execution in 1979.

Balochistan has a long history of unrest and insurgencies; from 1948, 1958-59, 1962-63 and 1973-77, to the most recent unrest in 2006. All insurgencies were eventually suppressed by the powerful Pakistani Army.

Violence in the resources rich region escalated after January 2005, prompted by the horrific rape incident of Dr Shazia Khalid in the town of Sui. Dr Khalid was raped by a military man on government property in the Pakistan Petroleum Limited grounds.

Caption Hamad, the main suspect, was publicly declared innocent even before a judicial inquiry had completed its investigations.

The incident became an affront to the sentiments of Baloch nationalists. In anger, they launched a series of attacks on the government's gas installations in Sui.

Rich region, poor people

But the story of Baloch's opposition is as old as Pakistan. Balochistan comprises 43 per cent of Pakistan's area, but has only five per cent of Pakistan's population. The region has immense natural resources and most of Pakistan's energy resources.

According to some, the ruling elites of Pakistan have always tried to suppress any spirit of genuine federalism by perceiving it as a prelude to separatism.

Analysts say that in Pakistan, groups such as Pakhtoon, Balochs, Sindhis and Mohajirs, except Punjabis, give more importance to their group identity first and consider themselves as Pakistanis later. These groups feel that they are continuously being discriminated against by the Punjabi elite since the creation of Pakistan.

The region has faced neglect from Pakistan, which is continuously exploiting the natural resources of the region.

The people of the region say they get no revenues from their own gas reserves and no benefits from their own natural resources.

In fact, the gas from the region meets 38 per cent of Pakistan's needs, yet the irony is that only six per cent of Balochistan’s estimated 6.5 million people have access to it.

Besides, the Balochs say the natural gas generated from the region fetches $1.4 billion annually, but Islamabad gives the province merely $116 million in royalties.

"This is a battle about resources where they feel they do not get their fair share. They contribute to the largest amount of energy. They do not get their share of that. It is the least developed and the least literate province, the province with least healthcare, the worst statistics in Pakistan," said Ahmad Rashid, International Journalist and Author of Taliban: Islam, Oil, and the New Great Game in Central Asia and Jihad: The Rise of Militant Islam in Central Asia.

President Musharraf considers the tribal chiefs of the region as anti-development. He argues that the tribal system, which preserves their power, would come to an end by the development projects in the area.

But there are others who find the Pakistan government’s view of development flawed. They opine that ports and highways alone will not soothe feelings of alienation in Balochistan.

What is instead needed is a fair and just treatment of the tribals.

The tribals have time and again clarified that they are not opposed to development. They are against the deprivation of their people’s rights in the name of development.

Foreign hands

Musharraf also accuses the armed Baloch militants of playing into the hands of some foreign countries (read India).

In an interview in April 2006, Pakistani Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed of Pakistan Muslim League said that "RAW (Research and Analysis Wing) is operating training camps in Afghanistan and approximately 600 ferraris (Baloch tribal insurgents) are getting specialized training to handle explosives, engineer blasts and use sophisticated weapons.”

In fact, Hussain, as parliamentary committee head, had recommended that the government grant autonomy to the Balochis, and ensure that the province did not lose out in the development race in Pakistan.

The Indian government, in a strong statement, slammed Pakistan for killing Bugti and termed it as unfortunate. New Delhi's statement had indirectly referred to Balochistan as a separate entity from Pakistan.

"The heavy casualties in the continuing military operation in Balochistan underlines the need for a peaceful dialogue to address the grievances and aspirations of the people of Balochistan,” said a spokesperson from the Indian ministry of external affairs.

Some in Pakistan believe that India is using the killing of Bugti to its advantage by publicly criticizing Pakistan for the excessive use of military force in Balochistan. Pakistan, on the other hand, is using Indian statements to its advantage to blame India of aiding and abetting the rebels.

Reacting to the Indian statement, Pakistan has said that it did not expect foreign governments to react on an issue, which is an internal matter of Pakistan.

But analysts in India say that if Musharraf expects India to respect the rights of the people of Jammu and Kashmir, then there is nothing wrong in the Indian statement regarding Balochistan. Musharraf’s references to Gujarat riots were also cited to justify India's statement on Pakistan's internal matter.

Future tense

Apart from the Indian statements, Bugti's killing was criticised by everybody in Pakistan. Exiled former Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said that the Army operation against Bugti was "an attack on Pakistan's unity.'

The Pakistani Press believes that by killing Bugti, the Army has made him a martyr and given the Baloch movement a new lease of life.

"In his death and the manner in which it was carried out, Sardar Akbar Bugti is likely to become a martyred hero for Baloch nationalism and nationalists elsewhere in Pakistan - rather than the anti-government renegade and reactionary tribesman Islamabad would like to portray him as," wrote Ahmed Rashid, International Journalist and Author of Taliban: Islam, Oil, and the New Great Game in Central Asia and Jihad: The Rise of Militant Islam in Central Asia.

The widespread protests against the killing of Bugti, who held the post of the governor and chief minister of Balochistan in the past has put the government on defensive mode. The government declared that they had no intention of killing Bugti.

Analysts believe that solving the Balochistan dispute is not about settling a single problem. The larger issue is Pakistan’s political direction in coming years.

The use of excessive military force will further fuel alienation of the Baloch population.

They argue that if Pakistan wants itself to be a progressive state, it has to give the people of Balochistan the rights that have long been denied to them.