Nawab Akbar Shahbaz Khan Bugti (July 12, 1927–August 26,
2006) was the Tumandar (head) of the Bugti tribe of Baluch and served as
Minister of State for Interior and Governor of Balochistan Province in Pakistan.
He received his early education from the towering personality of Allama I. I.
Kazi. An Oxford-educated man, he was a towering personality in Baloch politics
for more than five decades.
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.
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.
Akbar Bugti was the
son of Nawab Mehrab Khan Bugti and a grandson of Sir Shahbaz Khan Bugti. He was
born in Barkhan 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, Mir 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 Baluchistan and with the help of the Iranian airforce
killed large numbers of Baluchis. Muhammad Raza Shah Pehlavi, 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 Baluchis, 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.The incoming caretaker, Chief Minister Mir Humayun Khan Marri, was his
son-in-law.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.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 broadcasted news that Bugti's grandsons,
Bramdakh 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
cofin, 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 cofin .This is one of the few instances in Asia of a
government killing a political leader who had previously served in high official
positions as a cabinet minister, Senator, and Governor.
Family:- Akbar Bugti (right) and his
Grandson in the mountains of Balochistan.Nawab Mehrab Khan Bugti, son of Sir
Shahbaz Khan Bugti had two sons, Nawab Akbar Bugti and Sardar Ahmed Nawaz Bugti.
Nawab Akbar Bugti had three wives and six sons and two daughters. His Baloch
wife gave birth to four sons: Nawabzada Saleem Khan Bugti, Nawabzada Talal Khan
Bugti, Nawabzada Salal Khan Bugti, and Nawabzada Rehan 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 1993. Nawab Akbar Bugti's second
wife was a Pathan; she gave birth to Nawabzada Jameel Khan Bugti. Nawab Akbar
Bugti's third wife was Iranian, and she gave birth to Shahzwar Khan Bugti. Jamil
Akbar Bugti, Talal Akbar Bugti, and Shahzwar Khan Bugti are the surviving sons
of Nawab Akbar Bugti. Sardar Nawab Akbar Bugti's daughter is married to Mir
Balakh Sher Mazari's son who is the chieftain of the neighbouring Mazari tribe.
Sardar Ahmed Nawaz Bugti had four sons: Tanvir Khan, Anees Khan, Farooq Khan,
and Naveed Khan. Tanvir Khan, who was the oldest, also passed away in 1991 due
to natural causes.The Bugti Grandchildren consist of Brahamdagh Khan Bugti, Mir
Aali Khan Bugti, Washane Bugti, Ahmad Marri, Muhammad Marri, Sarang Khan Bugti
,Taleh Bugti, Shahzain Bugti, Gohram Bugti, Tabish Bugti.
