Badaber Uprising
Encyclopedia
Badaber Uprising was an armed uprising by Soviet Union
and Republic of Afghanistan
(RA) captives held at the Badaber
fortress-jail in Pakistan
on April 26 and 27, 1985, against much larger units of Pakistan's regular army accompanied by Afghan mujahideen
. The attempt of the captives to liberate themselves failed. As a result of the two-day assault of the fortress-jail Badaber
by the guards with accompanying artillery shelling, all the captives were killed.
, acted as the military training center for Afghan rebels who opposed the Soviet presence in their country
. They trained under supervision by military instructors from USA, Pakistan
, Republic of China
and Egypt
. The Badaber base belonged to Jamiat-e Islami
of Afghanistan, one of the most influential and major opposition groups that resisted Soviet influence in Afghanistan supported by the US Operation Cyclone
.
Soviet and DRA captives were brought to the base in 1983-1984 after being held in zindan
s by rebel units. They were assigned heavy duties that included work in a quarry and loading of ordnance. As of 1985, 25 Soviet and about 60 Afghan captives were held in Badaber.
Communication with the shuravis or Soviet Afghans was prohibited during the period of imprisonment. Anyone trying to talk was whipped.
The escape was blocked when Haist Gol, the Badaber head guard, came to know about it and raised the alarm. He took all possible measures to prevent the escape of the captives. The captives were forced to stay in the base and seized the key points in the fortress. Mujahideen detachments, as well as infantry, tank and artillery units of 11th Pakistan Army Corps quickly blocked the fortress area. Several attempts to recapture the fortress were repelled by the defending captives.
Burhanuddin Rabbani
, then leader of Jamiat-e Islami
, arrived at the base on 21:00 pm and began negotiations. He proposed that the captives surrender and promised their lives would be spared. The defending captives put forth demands to meet with a Soviet or Afghanistan ambassador in Pakistan and representatives from the Red Cross. They threatened to blow up the armoury if their demands were not met. Rabbani rejected these demands, fuelling attacks that continued all night.
By 08:00 am on 27 April, it became clear that the revolt would not end. Rabbani missed being hit by rockets fired from the fortress, but his bodyguard received serious shrapnel wounds in the attack. The Jamiat-e Islami leader decided to finish the battle with an all-out assault on the fort. He drew on artillery units, in particular rocket systems 9K51 Grad, tanks and Pakistan Air Force
helicopters to use against the defenders.
How the revolt ended is viewed differently by each side. Some say that one of the artillery shells struck the armoury building, setting off an overwhelming explosion. The series of explosions practically levelled the prison at Badaber. Three wounded and shell-shocked survivors were dragged to the walls and blown up by attackers using hand grenades.
Other sources said that the defenders blew the armoury up themselves, after it became clear that the battle was in vain.
was posthumously recognized in memory of the 10th anniversary of the withdrawal of the Soviet Army from Afghanistan.
, the president of Pakistan, decided to classify all information related to the incident. On the same day, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar
, the lead of the Hezbi Islami
, issued an order stating: "Do not capture shuravi soldiers in the future, but annihilate them at the taking place." The intelligence reports from the Aerospace Service Center on April 28, 1985 shocked the Soviet government as well: "The crater size on the image received by communication satellite reaches 80 meters."
On May 9, 1985, a representative of the International Red Cross visited the Soviet Embassy in Islamabad and confirmed the armed uprising of prisoners of war.
On May 11, 1985, Soviet ambassador noted a protest of the Soviet government to Pakistan President Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq
, which is stated: "The Soviet side holds full responsibility for what had happened to the Government of Pakistan and expects that it will make appropriate conclusions about the effects posed by his complicity in the aggression against the DRA and thereby against the Soviet Union." However, no other measures against Pakistan had been taken by USSR.
The remarkable "restraint" shown by the Soviets given their known history of seeking retribution, has led to public speculation in Pakistan that the April 10th 1988 Ojhri Camp
incident and possibly the 17th August 1988 mysterious crash of General Zia ul Haq's C-130 may have been the work of KHAD and/or the KGBin retaliation for the brutal treatment of the Soviet POWs.
On May 16, 1985, UN permanent representative of DRA
M. Zarif sent a letter concerning this incident to the UN Secretary-General, which was circulated as an official document of the General Assembly
and the Security Council.
According to Colonel
Yousaf Mohammad, the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence
officer, the incident "could quickly get out of hand, or lead to international confrontation". The fact of uprising was concealed by both Pakistan and USSR governments for many years until the dissolution of the USSR. Six names of participants in the uprising were given to Alexander Rutskoy
committee by Shahryar Khan
, the deputy of Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Pakistan, only in 1992.
In 2002, the application for award of three uprising participants, the Russians Igor Vas'kov, Nicholay Dudkin and Sergei Levchishin, was sent by the Warriors-Internationalists Affairs Committee to Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov
. The response was negative: "Unfortunately, there is no basis to proceed with the application for award".
n / Kazakhstan
movie Peshavarskiy Vals
released in 1994 was based on this incident.
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
and Republic of Afghanistan
Republic of Afghanistan
Republic of Afghanistan was the official state government of Mohammed Daoud Khan from 1973 to 1978. Daoud Khan became Afghanistan's first President in 1973 after he deposed Mohammad Zahir Shah in a non-violent coup...
(RA) captives held at the Badaber
Badaber
Badaber is a village in Peshawar District, Khyber Pukhtunkhwa, Pakistan.It is situated on Kohat road, and some 10 kilometers away from the main Peshawar city. It is the location of the Badaber refugee camp and jail, established in February 1980, which was the site of the famous Badaber Uprising,...
fortress-jail in Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
on April 26 and 27, 1985, against much larger units of Pakistan's regular army accompanied by Afghan mujahideen
Mujahideen
Mujahideen are Muslims who struggle in the path of God. The word is from the same Arabic triliteral as jihad .Mujahideen is also transliterated from Arabic as mujahedin, mujahedeen, mudžahedin, mudžahidin, mujahidīn, mujaheddīn and more.-Origin of the concept:The beginnings of Jihad are traced...
. The attempt of the captives to liberate themselves failed. As a result of the two-day assault of the fortress-jail Badaber
Badaber
Badaber is a village in Peshawar District, Khyber Pukhtunkhwa, Pakistan.It is situated on Kohat road, and some 10 kilometers away from the main Peshawar city. It is the location of the Badaber refugee camp and jail, established in February 1980, which was the site of the famous Badaber Uprising,...
by the guards with accompanying artillery shelling, all the captives were killed.
Background
The Badaber refugee camp, 24 km from PeshawarPeshawar
Peshawar is the capital of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and the administrative center and central economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan....
, acted as the military training center for Afghan rebels who opposed the Soviet presence in their country
Soviet war in Afghanistan
The Soviet war in Afghanistan was a nine-year conflict involving the Soviet Union, supporting the Marxist-Leninist government of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan against the Afghan Mujahideen and foreign "Arab–Afghan" volunteers...
. They trained under supervision by military instructors from USA, Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
, Republic of China
Republic of China
The Republic of China , commonly known as Taiwan , is a unitary sovereign state located in East Asia. Originally based in mainland China, the Republic of China currently governs the island of Taiwan , which forms over 99% of its current territory, as well as Penghu, Kinmen, Matsu and other minor...
and Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
. The Badaber base belonged to Jamiat-e Islami
Jamiat-e Islami
Jamiat-e Islami , is an Islamic political party in Afghanistan along the line of the Muslim Brotherhood of Egypt. Jamiat-e Islami means "Islamic society" in the Persian language and is also known as just Jamiat for short. Jamiat is the oldest Islamic political party in Afghanistan...
of Afghanistan, one of the most influential and major opposition groups that resisted Soviet influence in Afghanistan supported by the US Operation Cyclone
Operation Cyclone
Operation Cyclone was the code name for the United States Central Intelligence Agency program to arm, train, and finance the Afghan mujahideen during the Soviet war in Afghanistan, 1979 to 1989...
.
Soviet and DRA captives were brought to the base in 1983-1984 after being held in zindan
Zindan
A Zindan is a traditional Central Asian prison. In the eastern Khanate, the prisons were typically underground.-References:...
s by rebel units. They were assigned heavy duties that included work in a quarry and loading of ordnance. As of 1985, 25 Soviet and about 60 Afghan captives were held in Badaber.
Communication with the shuravis or Soviet Afghans was prohibited during the period of imprisonment. Anyone trying to talk was whipped.
The uprising and the revolt
On 26 April, 1985 at about 18:00 pm, a group of captives rose in rebellion against their captors. They used the moment when only two of 70 mujahideen were guarding the prison; the others were gathered on the drill square to perform evening prayers (namaz). The captives entered the armoury, took weapons and ammunition and tried to escape. Some sources say that the main objective was to capture the fortress' radio center and go on-air and report the prison's location.The escape was blocked when Haist Gol, the Badaber head guard, came to know about it and raised the alarm. He took all possible measures to prevent the escape of the captives. The captives were forced to stay in the base and seized the key points in the fortress. Mujahideen detachments, as well as infantry, tank and artillery units of 11th Pakistan Army Corps quickly blocked the fortress area. Several attempts to recapture the fortress were repelled by the defending captives.
Burhanuddin Rabbani
Burhanuddin Rabbani
Professor Burhanuddin Rabbani was President of the Islamic State of Afghanistan from 1992 to 1996. After the Taliban government was toppled during Operation Enduring Freedom, Rabbani returned to Kabul and served as a temporary President from November to December 20, 2001, when Hamid Karzai was...
, then leader of Jamiat-e Islami
Jamiat-e Islami
Jamiat-e Islami , is an Islamic political party in Afghanistan along the line of the Muslim Brotherhood of Egypt. Jamiat-e Islami means "Islamic society" in the Persian language and is also known as just Jamiat for short. Jamiat is the oldest Islamic political party in Afghanistan...
, arrived at the base on 21:00 pm and began negotiations. He proposed that the captives surrender and promised their lives would be spared. The defending captives put forth demands to meet with a Soviet or Afghanistan ambassador in Pakistan and representatives from the Red Cross. They threatened to blow up the armoury if their demands were not met. Rabbani rejected these demands, fuelling attacks that continued all night.
By 08:00 am on 27 April, it became clear that the revolt would not end. Rabbani missed being hit by rockets fired from the fortress, but his bodyguard received serious shrapnel wounds in the attack. The Jamiat-e Islami leader decided to finish the battle with an all-out assault on the fort. He drew on artillery units, in particular rocket systems 9K51 Grad, tanks and Pakistan Air Force
Pakistan Air Force
The Pakistan Air Force is the leading air arm of the Pakistan Armed Forces and is primarily tasked with the aerial defence of Pakistan with a secondary role of providing air support to the Pakistan Army and the Pakistan Navy. The PAF also has a tertiary role of providing strategic air transport...
helicopters to use against the defenders.
How the revolt ended is viewed differently by each side. Some say that one of the artillery shells struck the armoury building, setting off an overwhelming explosion. The series of explosions practically levelled the prison at Badaber. Three wounded and shell-shocked survivors were dragged to the walls and blown up by attackers using hand grenades.
Other sources said that the defenders blew the armoury up themselves, after it became clear that the battle was in vain.
The defending captives
The identities of the captives are largely unknown. Among them, Junior Sergeant Saminj Nikolay Grigoriyevichwas posthumously awarded the Kazahstan Republic Order of Valor, 3rd degree December 12, 2003 and Private Zverkovich Alexandr Nikolaevichwas posthumously recognized in memory of the 10th anniversary of the withdrawal of the Soviet Army from Afghanistan.
The prison guards
According to different sources, approximately 100 to 120 mujahideen and 40 to 90 Pakistani soldiers were killed. The explosion destroyed the Badaber base, 3 9K51 Grad multiple rocket launchers, thousands of shells and rockets, about 40 cannons, mortars and machine-guns. The fortress' chancellery was also destroyed along with the list of captives.Aftermath
The incident caused alarm among Pakistani government officials and Afghan mujahideen. On April 29, 1985, Muhammad Zia-ul-HaqMuhammad Zia-ul-Haq
General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq , was the 4th Chief Martial Law Administrator and the sixth President of Pakistan from July 1977 to his death in August 1988...
, the president of Pakistan, decided to classify all information related to the incident. On the same day, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar
Gulbuddin Hekmatyar
Gulbuddin Hekmatyar is an Afghan Mujahideen leader who is the founder and leader of the Hezb-e Islami political party and paramilitary group. Hekmatyar was a rebel military commander during the 1980s Soviet war in Afghanistan and was one of the key figures in the civil war that followed the...
, the lead of the Hezbi Islami
Hezbi Islami
Hezbi Islami , meaning Islamic Party is an Islamist organization commonly known for fighting in the Marxist Government of Afghanistan and their close ally the Soviet Union. Founded and led by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, it was established in Pakistan in 1975...
, issued an order stating: "Do not capture shuravi soldiers in the future, but annihilate them at the taking place." The intelligence reports from the Aerospace Service Center on April 28, 1985 shocked the Soviet government as well: "The crater size on the image received by communication satellite reaches 80 meters."
On May 9, 1985, a representative of the International Red Cross visited the Soviet Embassy in Islamabad and confirmed the armed uprising of prisoners of war.
On May 11, 1985, Soviet ambassador noted a protest of the Soviet government to Pakistan President Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq
Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq
General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq , was the 4th Chief Martial Law Administrator and the sixth President of Pakistan from July 1977 to his death in August 1988...
, which is stated: "The Soviet side holds full responsibility for what had happened to the Government of Pakistan and expects that it will make appropriate conclusions about the effects posed by his complicity in the aggression against the DRA and thereby against the Soviet Union." However, no other measures against Pakistan had been taken by USSR.
The remarkable "restraint" shown by the Soviets given their known history of seeking retribution, has led to public speculation in Pakistan that the April 10th 1988 Ojhri Camp
Ojhri Camp
Ojhri Camp is located in Rawalpindi, Punjab, Pakistan. It was used as an ammunition depot for Afghan Mujahideen fighting against Soviet forces from Afghanistan...
incident and possibly the 17th August 1988 mysterious crash of General Zia ul Haq's C-130 may have been the work of KHAD and/or the KGBin retaliation for the brutal treatment of the Soviet POWs.
On May 16, 1985, UN permanent representative of DRA
Democratic Republic of Afghanistan
The Democratic Republic of Afghanistan was a government of Afghanistan between 1978 and 1992. It was both ideologically close to and economically dependent on the Soviet Union, and was a major belligerent of the Afghan Civil War.- Saur Revolution :...
M. Zarif sent a letter concerning this incident to the UN Secretary-General, which was circulated as an official document of the General Assembly
United Nations General Assembly
For two articles dealing with membership in the General Assembly, see:* General Assembly members* General Assembly observersThe United Nations General Assembly is one of the five principal organs of the United Nations and the only one in which all member nations have equal representation...
and the Security Council.
According to Colonel
Colonel
Colonel , abbreviated Col or COL, is a military rank of a senior commissioned officer. It or a corresponding rank exists in most armies and in many air forces; the naval equivalent rank is generally "Captain". It is also used in some police forces and other paramilitary rank structures...
Yousaf Mohammad, the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence
Inter-Services Intelligence
The Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence , is Pakistan's premier intelligence agency, responsible for providing critical national security intelligence assessment to the Government of Pakistan...
officer, the incident "could quickly get out of hand, or lead to international confrontation". The fact of uprising was concealed by both Pakistan and USSR governments for many years until the dissolution of the USSR. Six names of participants in the uprising were given to Alexander Rutskoy
Alexander Rutskoy
Alexander Vladimirovich Rutskoy is a Russian politician and a former Soviet military officer. Rutskoy served as the only Vice President of Russia from 10 July 1991 to 4 October 1993, and as the governor of Kursk Oblast from 1996 to 2000...
committee by Shahryar Khan
Shahryar Khan
Nawabzada Shahryar Mohammad Khan is a former career Pakistan diplomat who rose to the position of Foreign Secretary of Pakistan in 1990, and remained so till his retirement from service in 1994; he was later appointed as UN SRSG to Rwanda .Nawabzada Shahryar Muhammed Khan is descended from the...
, the deputy of Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Pakistan, only in 1992.
In 2002, the application for award of three uprising participants, the Russians Igor Vas'kov, Nicholay Dudkin and Sergei Levchishin, was sent by the Warriors-Internationalists Affairs Committee to Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov
Sergei Ivanov
Sergei Borisovich Ivanov is a Russian senior official and statesman. He was Minister of Defence from March 2001 to February 2007, Deputy Prime Minister from November 2005 to February 2007, and the First Deputy Prime Minister from February 2007 to May 2008...
. The response was negative: "Unfortunately, there is no basis to proceed with the application for award".
Mass culture
The RussiaRussia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n / Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan , officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country in Central Asia and Eastern Europe. Ranked as the ninth largest country in the world, it is also the world's largest landlocked country; its territory of is greater than Western Europe...
movie Peshavarskiy Vals
Peshavarskiy Vals
Peshawar Waltz , also known as Escape from Afghanistan is a 1994 Russian action film directed and written by Timur Bekmambetov. The film is a compelling depiction of war in Afghanistan, based on actual events: the uprising of Soviet captives taken place in Badaber, 24 km from the Peshawar,...
released in 1994 was based on this incident.