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Nawab Akbar Bugti
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Nawab Akbar Shahbaz Khan Bugti (July 12, 1927–August 26, 2006) was the Tumandar (head) of the Bugti tribe of Baloch and served as Minister of State for Interior and Governor of Balochistan Province in Pakistan.
Significance
He received his early education from Allama I. I. Kazi. An Oxford-educated man, he was a towering personality in Baloch politics for more than five decades.
He was a feudal sardar at his core.
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Encyclopedia
Nawab Akbar Shahbaz Khan Bugti (July 12, 1927–August 26, 2006) was the Tumandar (head) of the Bugti tribe of Baloch and served as Minister of State for Interior and Governor of Balochistan Province in Pakistan.
Significance
Significance
He received his early education from Allama I. I. Kazi. An Oxford-educated man, he was a towering personality in Baloch politics for more than five decades.
He was a feudal sardar at his core. He ruled the estimated 250000 bugti tribe. He owned his own army, his own fort and own jails where he would keeps his opponents as well as commoners.
His main source of income was from commission he extracted from Sui (natural) gas fields amounting estimated £1 million a year and provided security to the fields for estimated £15000 per month.His province despite having enormous mineral riches has remained backward since Pakistan's independence.
After an armed struggle started in Balochistan in 2004, Bugti was widely perceived as a leader but went underground in 2005. On August 26, 2006, after several attempts were made on his life in the preceding months, he was killed in his cave in Kohlu, about 150 miles east of Quetta, leading to widespread unrest in the area, where he is widely regarded as a hero and martyr.
With a wide following that crossed tribal lines among ethnic Baloch groups, the contradictions in this western educated tribal leader roused strong emotions, both positive and negative.
Despite making harsh decisions at times, he was considered a pacifist by many and certainly did not espouse a violent path in his early political career. 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 “Omar Mukhtar, Fidel Castro and Che Guevara” 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.
The tribal militias of Nawab Akber Bugti were converted into the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) in 2003. It aimed at countering Marris’ BLA and at getting assistance from Russia and India, who were supporting the BLA of Marris.According to a report in the Urdu daily Ummat of Karachi, ( 7 December 2005) a Hindu leader from Dera Bugti and the former member of Balochistan Provincial Assembly, Arjun Das Bugti is the link between Indian secret agencies and the Bugtis. Arjun
Das shifted to New Delhi in 2001. The BLA commanders take a proper oath from new recruits and pay them Rs 2,000 and 3,000 a month. Nawab Akbar Bugti pays household expenditure to the militants’ families.According to an official source Brahamdagh Bugti alias Chaakar-i-Azam and Commander Bangaam Karmazai are in charge for smuggling the weapons. These commanders also are taking care the kidnapping for ransom operations. Usually they kidnapped industrialists and rich businessmen from Karachi and Central Sindh. The grand son of Nawab Akbar Bugti, the head of the Bugti tribe and the Jamhoori Watoon Party (JWP) Brahamdagh Bugti holds the command of the organization.
With names such as The Tiger of Balochistan, The Trade Unionist, or Gas Man (supposedly having ownership of many gasfields), he was a towering figure in the Baloch world. The longstanding conflict in Balochistan stems from the quantum of autonomy the province was promised when they joined Pakistan in 1947 and then under the 1973 Pakistani constitution. Today a large faction continues to campaign, sometimes violently, for an autonomy which Balochistan's citizens believe to be their due under the promises made to them by various Pakistani leaders. The BLA is painted by the Pakistani government as a "great threat" to law and order in Balochistan and was recently banned by the Government of Pakistan as well as by the United Kingdom.
Life
Akbar Bugti was the son of Nawab Mehrab Khan Bugti and a grandson of Sir Shahbaz Khan Bugti. He 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 educated at Oxford, England and Aitchison College, Lahore. It is alleged that he committed his first murder when he was only 12 and that he had several men killed to avenge the assassination of his son, (Salal Bugti).
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 disqualified 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 in Balochistan 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.
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.
Death
On Saturday August 26, 2006, around 2230 hrs (PST), Bugti was killed in a bombing operation that caused the cave roof to collapse on him. His location was traced through the satellite phone he was using, and Pakistani secret service agencies pin-pointed his location. (It is not clear if he was pinpointed through a satellite phone) The news of his death was broken to the media by Makhdoom Amin Fahim, leader of Pakistan Peoples Party Parliamentarians. But Bugti's family has rejected the news that he was killed in a cave or the cave roof collapsed on him and it caused his death, they insisted that he got killed while he was fighting with Pakistan's army SSG Commandos.
Pakistani President, Gen Pervez Musharraf, has termed his death a victory for Pakistanis and congratulated the secret service chief who carried out this operation. Pakistan's Information Minister Mohammad Ali Durrani, confirmed that the operation included both air and ground assault. In a short telephonic interview made to a private television network, Pakistani Information Minister said that Bugti's death occurred as the cave he was in collapsed.
There have been stories reported in the press that Akbar Bugti's otherwise Marri allies, who apparently were still embittered by his support of the 1970s military operation against them, exposed his hiding place to the Army, who surrounded the area and sent in a few senior officers in charge of the operation along with a Bugti guide into the Nawab's cave to negotiate a surrender. Given Akbar Bugti's renowned stubbornness and non-compromising attitude, it is thought that Bugti or his associates detonated explosives in the case, killing all present inside, including the army negotiators and Akbar Bugti himself. Thus creating a legacy that Bugti was a 'martyr' for Baluch rights and freedom.
On August 24, 2006, under controversial circumstances, some Bugti tribesmen announced an end to the Nawabi system and requested the handing over of Nawab Bugti to authorities. His property was seized, and he was declared as a "proclaimed offender."
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 coffin, next to the graves of his son and brother. His family, who wanted a public funeral in Quetta, did not attend the burial, their protest against his body was locked in coffin .
Family
Nawab Mehrab Khan Bugti, son of Sir Shahbaz Khan Bugti had two sons, Nawab Akbar Bugti and Sardarzada Ahmed Nawaz Bugti. Nawab Akbar Bugti had two wives and five sons and seven daughters. From his first wife: Nawabzada Saleem Khan Bugti, Nawabzada Talal Khan Bugti, Nawabzada Rehan Khan Bugti, and Nawabzada Salal Khan Bugti. Of these four sons, three have died. Nawabzada Salal Bugti was murdered in a shootout in Quetta by the rival Bugti Kalpar sub clan in June 1992. From Nawab Akbar Bugti's second wife; Nawabzada Jameel Akbar Bugti. Jamil Akbar Bugti, and Talal Akbar Bugti, are the surviving sons of Nawab Akbar Bugti.Sardar Ahmed Nawaz Khan Bugti had three daughters, one of his daughter died in a very young age and he had three sons Beveragh Bugti, Murataza Bugti and Fahad Bugti.
Akbar Bugti has five daughters from his first wife names are Nawabzadi: Durr-e-shahwar, Nilofur, Nazneen (deceased), Durdana, and Dreen.And two from his second wife names are Shahnaz Marri (wife of Nawab Khair Bux Marri's far relative, Humayun Khan Marri) and Farah Naz Bugti (wife of Bivragh Bugti, the son of Nawabzada Ahmed Nawaz Bugti),they are the sisters of Jameel Akbar Bugti.
The Bugti grandchildren consist of Brahamdagh Khan Bugti (son of Rehan Khan Bugti), Mir Aali Bugti (son of Salim Bugti), Ahmad Marri and Mohammad Marri (Son's of Humayun Khan Marri), Washane Bugti and Sarang Khan Bugti , Shazain Bugti Taleh Bugti and Gohram Bugti(sons of Talal Bugti).
See also
Further reading
- Matheson, Sylvia A. The Tigers of Balochistan. London: Arthure Barker Limited (1967). Reprint: Oxford University Press, Karachi (1998), ISBN 0-19-577763-8.
External links
Portrait
Video clips
- CNN Video Report on the Bugti tribe 2001
- BBC Video Report on Dera Bugti, Balochistan situation 2005
- BBC Video Report on Dera Bugti, Balochistan situation 2006
- In Urdu
- Nawab Bugti come for tribal jirga halt between Marri and Bugti tribes
- In Sindhi, Nawab Bugti's Profile
- An interview with Brahamdagh Bugti starting orcehstrated separatist movement against Pakistan
Audio clips
- BBC Urdu Interview Nawab Bugti
- Voice Of America English Interview Nawab Bugti
- BBC Urdu Interview Nawab Bugti
- BBC Urdu Interview Nawab Bugti
- BBC Urdu Interview Nawab Bugti
- BBC Urdu Interview Nawab Bugti
- Voice Of Germany Urdu Interview Nawab Bugti
- BBC Urdu Interview Nawab Bugti
- BBC Urdu Interview Nawab Bugti
- BBC Urdu Interview Nawab Bugti
- BBC Urdu Interview Nawab Bugti
- Interview of Nawab Bugti explaining how on 3 July 2006, his tribesmen foiled the Pakistani governments attempts to assassinate him for the third time using 3 fighter jets, 19 gunship helicopters which landed dozens of para-troopers and commandos (This particular clip has been blocked in Pakistan and can only be heard in countries other than Pakistan)
- Voice Of America Urdu Interview Nawab Bugti
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