Adil Najam
Government sources in Pakistan have just announced that Nawab Akbar Bugti, chief of the Bugti tribe, veteran politician, and senior Baluchistan leader, has been killed in a shootout between “tribal militants and government forces” in Balochistan.
This is very sad and disturbing news that cannot bode well for anyone. While details are still coming in, BBC reports:
The battle near his mountain hideout in south-west Pakistan also caused heavy casualties on both sides, reports say. More than 20 soldiers and at least 30 rebels died, officials say. The octogenarian has been at the head of a tribal campaign to win political autonomy and a greater share of revenue from Balochistan’s gas reserves. “It is confirmed, Nawab Bugti has been killed in an operation,” Information Minister Mohammad Ali Durrani told Reuters news agency. The battle reportedly took place near the town of Dera Bugti, not far from Mr Bugti’s hideout.
According to a newsflash posted on The News website:
Jamhori Watan Party (JWP) chief Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti was killed in a historical operation carried out by security forces in Kohlu and Murree tribal areas on Saturday night, Federal Information Minister Muhammad Ali Durrani confirmed… Pakistan People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPP-P) leader Makhdoom Amin Faheem termed Akbar Bugti’s death an incident which could worsen security situation in Pakistan.
The death, and the manner of death, of the veteran Baluch leader will indeed worsen the security situation in Baluchistan and exacerbate the feeling of marginalization amongst Baluchis. Nawab Bugti had, at various points in his life, ‘butted heads’ with just about all major leaders in Pakistan. His recent standoff with the Musharraf government was not the highpoint of his own political career but it may well be the lowest point of the Musharraf rule. However, more than the implications on immediate politics – which will become more clear and more pronounced over the next many days – this marks a tragic end to the life of an important political leader.
Born on July 12, 1927, Nawab Bugto was a ‘ tribal’ who was educated at Oxford, England, Aitchison College, Lahore and Karachi Grammar School and has served as Governor and Chief Minister of Baluchistan. Mr. Bugti’s legacy was clearly a mixed one and will be much debated and much dissected. He was, however, a major leader and this was indeed a sad and tragic way to go.
Daily Times in its editorial today titled” Bugti’s killing is the biggest blunder since Bhutto’s execution” aptly says:
“Whoever in the national security establishment decided to eliminate Nawab Bugti physically is clueless about the force of politics, history and nationalism. Clearly, this was a politically inopportune moment for it. Most of what the opposition will say about the killing of Mr Bugti is going to gibe with what leading PMLQ politicians have felt: that the deadlock in Balochistan should not be resolved through military action. The ruling party is already bedevilled with rifts that President Pervez Musharraf is hard put to control. With the barrage of violent statements that are bound to come from the opposition these rifts are going to be more difficult to paper over. Nawab Bugti, already 80 plus, wanted a heroic death for many personal, provincial and extra-provincial reasons. Whoever took military action against him has granted him his wish to be a martyr. This is a political nightmare that the PMLQ will find hard to handle here and now and Pakistan in the hereafter.”
@Fakir Mastana:You havn’t faced the heat on ground thatswhy you are keep comparing this situation with so called “war on terror”.
@Mariam:I am not twisting the facts.You got any documentary proof?i will neither accept nor deny your statment that Khaid killed Najeeb.It was all common that Najeeb had differences with Benazir for a long time.Murtaza was surely killed by his own people.Zardari was not a stranger anyway.Everything is possible in politics and love.
@Umaira:Are you so naive about our corrupt judicial system??The system which gives facility to Asif zardari in jail which a middle man can just dream about.The operation was right ,regardless the general did for his inner satisfaction or what.
Intresting facts,got from Karachi metroblog:
Indian Express
– Balochistan in flames after Pak Army kills top leader
NDTV.com
– Bugti: The tiger of Balochistan
Zee News
– Bugti: A tribal chief who challenged Pak Army’s might
Do I need to say more?Ms.Jyoti,why is like that hmm??What message is being sent to us Pakistanis?Then it’s said that Pakistan and India should opt the path of friendship *sigh*
We may grieve or gloat over Bugti’s death depending on our respective standpoints, the fact is that the manner of his death will cast a long shadow over Balochistan’s politics.
Daily Times, Lahore, which is normally supportive of many of Musharraf government’s policies, commented on Bugti’s death in its editorial today thus:
“A pall of gloom has descended over Pakistan that will not lift in a hurry. This is the biggest blunder committed by the military since the execution of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.”
Fakir Mastana, I am amused by your condescendance. I am on the wrong side of thirty and have an MBA. I lived the first 20 of my life in Pakistan. I have family all over Pakistan in public and private sectors. The views I hold are not just gleaned from friends, who mind you are all older and many better educated than me, but also from my elders, many of whom have worked for Pakistan from before 1947 through the various termoils that my poor country has been put through.
But age or education obviously did not put a dent in bugti’s rigid thought or lack thereof. All the atchisons and oxfords can not educate someone bent upon being a jahil. I have actually seen and heard mr. bugti twice in baloch sangats with my dad in Lahore with a number of other baloch leaders. Even at a young age, I was disgusted by the attitudes and politics of these so called leaders of the baloch. Maybe, I was born enlightened. Thank God.
Fakir Sahib, I will look up references to this Baloch ittehad manifesto and list them later. But I have heard all this talk from these guys even 15 years ago while they were elected politicos.
If nothing else, these characters are responsible for attempted assasination of the president while he visited Kohlu not long ago.
What double standards majority of you Pakis have. You conveniently call kashmiri terrorists as freedom fighters and balauch nationalists as terrorists.
Kashmiri Pandit