Bugti

Sunday 0130Hrs, I got an IM message from a friend of mine with the link to some Australian news source. The news said that security forces have killed the rebel tribal chief Akbar Bugti in NW Pakistan. As the night went on I got more details about the attack and the killing.

Following the death violence broke out in Baluchistan; the province Bugti belonged to and in other parts of country. Opposition parties and nationalist movements of the country condemned the Bugti killing. There were also some Baloch tribe leaders who supported the military action by the government.

Nawab Akbar Bugti was the Bugti tribe chief, he was waging a war against the state through his 250,000 men fighting force. Akbar Bugti was responsible for kidnapping and murder of foreign engineers and state representatives. His militants called the feraris blew up various gas pipelines and railway tracks in the country. He was doing this to get the Baluch people more rights and to get the government to start more development projects the Baluch area.

People are saying that military action is not the answer, that there were other ways to resolve the Baluchistan crisis. That is true, violence is not the answer. But when someone is repeatedly slapping your face you cant continue a logical discussion with him. You do resort to fighting back. If someone challenges the government the way Nawab Bugti did, if someone attacks the army, other government and foreign personals and civilian structure, is the government supposed to sit back and wait for him to cool down? The state can not tolerate people who break the law and challenge the writ of the government to this extent.

Even though Baluchistan is in a state of anarchy right now and nationalist parties are standing against the action of the government, Nawab Bugti had to be brought to justice. He talked of bringing his people prosperity but he had been and MNA and MPA and even CM Baluchistan. How much did he do for “his” people then? The Gawadar port and the Baluchistan coastal highway were steps by the government to a better Baluchistan. Was Bugti supporting these projects? No, he was busy kidnapping and murdering the foreigners setting up these projects!