Author: Alok Bansal
Publication: Rediff.com
Date: January 18, 2006
URL: http://us.rediff.com/news/2006/jan/18spec1.htm
Balochistan is once again in the midst of
a full fledged violent confrontation.
When Pakistani security forces moved into
Kohlu district on December 18 to start their long awaited operations in Balochistan,
they broke a tenuous peace that had lasted for nine months since the violent
confrontation in Dera Bugti, which had claimed over 60 lives including those
of 33 Hindus.
The present operations in Balochistan started
as a sequel to the December 14 rocket attacks on Kohlu town when President
Pervez Musharraf was on a visit to lay the foundation stone of one of the
three new cantonments -- fiercely opposed by Baloch nationalists -- to be
set up in the province.
This was followed the very next day by machine-gun
fire on an army helicopter that was carrying the Inspector General, Frontier
Corps, Major General Shujaat Zamir Dar, and his deputy Brigadier Saleem Nawaz.
Both the officers sustained bullet wounds but the pilot succeeded in landing
the helicopter safely. This was probably the first incident since the attack
on the Karachi corps commander when a general officer was targeted in his
own area of operation.
Though the operations were ostensibly launched
against Marri tribesmen in Kohlu district for their suspected involvement
in rocket attacks and bomb explosions, a careful analysis of events indicate
that the operation had been planned much before any of these incidents had
taken place.
In fact, the operation, which was expected
much earlier, was delayed due to the earthquake that hit Pakistan on October
8 last year.
Former governor of Balochistan and the head
of the Jamhoori Watan Party, Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti, had been declaring for
quite some time that troops were being mobilised in Sui and Dera Bugti and
artillery and helicopter gunships were being moved in to launch an operation
in Balochistan. The matter was also raised by the opposition in the Pakistani
parliament but the establishment had routinely denied that any military operation
was being planned.
However, when the operations were launched,
they were not in Dera Bugti district, which had been the scene of pitched
battles between the security forces and Baloch nationalists in January and
March, but in the neighbouring Kohlu district, which is inhabited by the most
belligerent of the Baloch tribes, the Marris.
Marris have been in the forefront in past
two insurgencies in the 1960s and the 1970s. Their traditional sardar, Nawab
Khair Bux Marri, a fierce nationalist and a self proclaimed Marxist has had
an uneasy relationship with the government. Nawabzada Balaach Marri, Nawabzada
Marri's Moscow-educated son, who played major role in the insurgency in the
1970s, is believed to be leading the insurgent outfit Balochistan Liberation
Army.
Despite having started in Kohlu district the
conflict has engulfed most of Kohlu and Dera Bugti districts but insurgents
have been challenging the writ of the State virtually across the entire length
and breadth of Balochistan by targeting railway lines, gas pipelines and electricity
and communication towers.
Security forces supported by helicopter gunships
and artillery have been targeting Baloch strongholds in Kohlu and Dera Bugti
districts. The situation is reported to be worsening, with large scale collateral
damage. Baloch nationalists have claimed that indiscriminate firing by the
security forces have led to large scale death and destruction, and that a
number of women and children have been killed.
Opposition parties in the national assembly,
the Pakistan parliament, have accused the government of carrying out genocide
of 'innocent citizens' in Balochistan, using helicopters in bombing sorties
and use of poisonous phosphorus gas against the 'people.' They have also deplored
the way in which the air force is being utilised in the operation.
Even Asma Jehangir, the chairperson of the
Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, was prevented from visiting Balochistan.
The Commission has urged the government to stop killing Balochis in Kohlu
under its military operation and wants an immediate ceasefire to resolve the
issue politically.
The current insurgency in Balochistan underlines
the fragility of Pakistani State more than 58 years after its creation. At
Partition in 1947, the tribal areas of Balochistan were amongst the most backward
parts of the subcontinent. Almost six decades later, they still are.
The tribesmen may be carrying automatic Kalashnikov
assault rifles instead of ancient Lee Enfield 303s, but there has been hardly
any development, the women are still not allowed to leave their homes and
the girls are not sent to schools. The only law is the one laid down by the
tribal chief.
Clearly, the existence of such pockets of
lawless lands has helped in the spread of anarchy in Pakistan. Since the Afghan
war, guns and drugs have flooded Pakistan from the tribal belt and the current
conflict highlights the point: the Balochs have used missiles, anti-aircraft
weapons and an array of modern and very lethal arms. In fact, the army has
suffered serious casualties in its operations, and has been forced to use
helicopter gunships to quell the rebellion.
Four times since Pakistan's creation, the
Balochs, who -- like many Sindhis and Pathans (Pakhtuns)-- never wanted to
be part of Pakistan, have rebelled, demanding greater autonomy, or even an
independent state, which would reunite the five million Balochs in Pakistan,
Iran, and Afghanistan under one flag.
Balochistan comprises 43 percent of Pakistan's
area but has only five percent of Pakistan's population. It also has immense
natural resources and most of Pakistan's energy resources. The Balochs joined
Pakistan quite reluctantly.
The state of Kalat was a princely state of
British Balochistan as against other princely states that were part of British
India. the Khan of Kalat therefore sought a status similar to that of Nepal
and claimed that his bid was supported by Mohammad Ali Jinnah who was also
the legal advisor to the state.
After independence, both the houses of parliament
in Kalat unanimously rejected the proposal to merge with Pakistan. Yet, the
areas of Balochistan that had been under direct British rule were merged with
Pakistan and the proposal was ratified by the municipality of Quetta, a body
that was overwhelmingly dominated by non Baloch settlers.
Subsequently, the Khan of Kalat was forced
to sign the merger document and Kalat was annexed. This led to the first armed
insurgency in 1948 led by Prince Karim, Khan's brother. From then till the
current insurgency the Balochs have risen in revolt thrice and have faced
the security forces in 1958, 1963 to 1969 and 1973 to 1977.
Baloch history has been an unending saga of
treachery by the ruling elite in Islamabad. Though the insurgencies in the
past have been crushed with a heavy hand, they have left scars which are yet
to heal. Each insurgency has been more intense than the previous one and the
organisational capabilities and the popular support for the insurgents continues
to grow.
At the height of insurgency in 1973, 55,000
insurgents faced 80,000 Pakistani troops supported by the Pakistani air force
as well as the Iranian Air force. More than 5,000 insurgents and over 3,300
soldiers were killed in the insurgency that lingered on till 1977. The Pakistani
armed forces used brute force to crush the insurgency as they had to redeem
their honour after their rout in Bangladesh.
In fact the Pakistani army's record in dealing
with internal disorders has been far from exemplary. Its operations in East
Pakistan led to the creation of Bangladesh in December 1971. Its operations
in Sindh and Balochistan have created scars that are yet to heal. Recent operations
in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas have exhibited its inefficiency
where almost a division has been deployed and supported liberally by the artillery
and helicopter gunships, but the militants still rule the roost. In fact the
alienation of population has only grown with the passage of time.
The security forces have also created a perpetual
problem in the tranquil heights of the Northern Areas. The security forces
in Pakistan at this point of time are really overstretched and if violence
in Balochistan intensifies, the Pakistani army will definitely be sucked into
a war that will fester and bleed Pakistan.
