Nawab Akbar Bugti Of Balochistan
Nawab Akbar Shahbaz Khan Bugti, a brave chief of the Bugti tribe, which is known for their valor and courage. A companion of father of the nation who convinced his people to join pakistan. A tribal chief that remained loyal to the state of Pakistan, who supported and stood by Quaid e Azam, was eventually killed as a traitor by the military forces of the same country.
The Begginings
After the creation of Pakistan, he was the first Baloch Sardar who voted in favour of Pakistan. Nawab Akbar Bukti was the famous Baloch nationalist political leader of Pakistan, head of the Jamhuri Watan Party, and former governor and former chief minister of Balochistan. He was born on 12 July 1927 in Dera Bugti. He studied at Aitchison College, Lahore, and later received higher education from Oxford. He became the 19th Sardar of the Bugti tribe in 1946. With the special permission of the government, he received training at Pakistan Civil Services Academy without clearing the exams. Later, he was nominated as a member of the Shahi Jirga of Sindh and Balochistan. In 1951, he was appointed as the Governor General of Balochistan’s advisor. From 1957 to 1958, he was in Malik Feroz Khan Noon’s cabinet as a deputy minister of defence. He was a strong defender and activist of the rights of the smaller communities. He joined the National Awami Party (NAP). He was imprisoned for some time during the martial law of General Ayub Khan. In 1973, when Zulfikar Ali Bhutto dismissed the government of NAP, Akbar Bukti was appointed as the governor of the province. He remained governor for 10 months but later resigned due to differences with Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. In 1977, he joined the Tehreek Istiqlal, formed under the leadership of Air Marshal Asghar Khan. In 1988, Akbar Bugti was elected as a member of the provincial assembly of Balochistan in February 1989 From 1989 to August 1990, he was the chief Minister of Balochistan. In the 1993 general election, he was elected as a member of the national assembly from his new party, the Jamhur Watan Party from Dera Bugti. He once boycotted the Urdu language in the national assembly as a protest. However, he did not participate in the elections of 1997 and 2002 after being politically active for so many years; maybe he lost faith in the governance system of Pakistan.
The Nawab’s Aura
Nawab Akbar Bukti was also related to the Mari tribe of Kohlu, and from 2003 to 2006, Akbar Bugti, along with other leaders of the Mari tribe, led the communalists against the government for the rights of the province, which have been ignored since independence. He was already upset and hopeless with the government and establishment of Pakistan from the way they treated Balochistan, and in such a condition, an incident in Sui triggered the Nawab and rightly so that he came face to face with the dictator of the era and was pronounced traitor. He remained hidden in the mountains of Kohlu for several months, and then security forces entered the cave on 26 August 2006, where Akbar Bukti had taken refuge. Bombing on the cave led to its collapse, in which Akbar Bugti, his 37 companions, and 21 soldiers of the security forces were martyred. Akbar Bugti’s followers blamed the then President Pervez Musharraf for the murder of Akbar Bugti. Musharraf also declared his no connection with the murder, but who else had the authority of ordering the military action? After the murder of Bugti, the situation in whole Balochistan became tense. His followers also tried to damage government buildings and other things. Protests started in cities of Balochistan, including Quetta. Protestors said that Pervez Musharraf was responsible for the death of Akbar Bugti. Protestors razed the Quaid-e-Azam Residency in Ziarat to the ground. On 11 July 2012, the terrorist court convicted former President Pervez Musharraf and other high-ranking officials in the murder case of Akbar Bugti. Arrest warrants were issued against political leaders because all these people were named in the FIR of Akbar Bugti’s murder case. Former President Pervez Musharraf was also arrested on 13 June 2013, but was granted bail after a short time. Neither the victim of the incident that provoked this battle nor Akbar Bugti got justice because both the culprits belonged to the same institution.
When Nawab Mohammad Akbar Khan Bugti started walking on the top of the mountain with the support of two people, that moment was a great opportunity for a photographer to take a picture. Due to illness, one leg was completely disabled; it was not possible for Nawab Bugti to walk for long without the support, He called the photographer to him and whispered in his ear in his special tone. He said to the photographer, “O Pashtun, do not take my picture in such a way that the enemy thinks that Bugti has become weak.” Such was the nature of Nawab. Long before he was killed in the security forces operation, Akbar Bugti, during interviews with journalists in Dera Bugti, kept saying that a decision had been taken to kill him and Nawab Khair Bakhsh Marri’s son, Nawabzada Balach Marri, and he kept saying that if they have decided to kill me, it is their decision, but I will decide myself how I will be killed. He remained in his fortress and was surrounded by the army of his tribe with automatic weapons and tribal warriors surrounding him. Nawab largely remained untouchable.
In the last part of his life, due to old age and illness, it was not possible for Nawab Bugti to move much even in his house, but despite this, he turned to the mountains in the year 2005. At that time, he was about 78 years old. The hilly area where he moved first was the area of near Ghori in the area of Lahri in Sibbi. Since this area was not very safe, he kept dealing in places, and after some time he moved in a difficult mountain terrain area of Dera Bugti and Kohlu, where he was killed along with his dead companions during an operation on 26 August 2006. Although the situation in Balochistan had started deteriorating since around 2000, even before Nawab Akbar Bugti was killed. The tribal leader who was companion of the father of nation and the first one from Balochistan to pledge to Pakistan, A person who actively participated in politics and advocated for Pakistan eventually confined himself to his tribe and raised his community issues in the last age and with such opinion that Pakistan couldn’t survive like these. Another great asset of Pakistan who got hopeless just like all the patriotic Pakistanis like Abdul Qadeer Khan, Mujeeb-ur-Rehman, Liaqat Ali Khan, and the Bhutto clan, etc.
The Rape Mattered
He advocated for the rights of his tribe and Baloch on the Sui Gas fields, which were never granted and remained the core grievance of Baloch till date, but all this injustice to his people and province didn’t provoke Nawab so much, which a shameful incident did. It was a cold night of January 2005. Dr. Shazia had gone to bed in the secured apartment of the Sui Gas Field. Her husband was in Libya, and she lived alone in the house. The entire security of the Sui Plant was with the Defense Security Guard, or DSG, a special branch of the army. It is said that the security in this dangerous wilderness of Balochistan is so tight that even birds cannot fly here. In the intense darkness, Shazia felt as if her eyes were blindfolded and her hands were tied with wire. Shazia screamed and tried to get up with all her might. A heavy voice fell on Shazia’s face. Shazia’s ears echoed. I have a pistol. If you even think of screaming or calling someone, I will put a bullet in your head. That man stayed in Shazia’s bedroom till the sunrise and raped her multiple times. He left in the morning saying, I am not an ordinary man. You will not be able to do anything to me. It is better that you remain silent and do not tell anyone about this. Actually, he was right.
He tried to suppress the case, but the rape of Dr. Shazia Khalid in Sui gas field became international news. On the other hand, DSG took control of the field because of the unrest caused by the incident, and all the dead bodies were wiped out. The company manager pressurized daughter Shazia to call the incident just a robbery. Her signatures were forcibly taken and she was sent to Islamabad overnight. Rape of an innocent person and its cover-up is not an unusual thing in Pakistan.
But this case was very different. Firstly, this incident had happened in Bugti Territory, and its main suspect was none other than a Captain of DSG himself. The investigation had not even started yet, and the military dictator Pervez Musharraf came on TV and declared the captain innocent. This statement added fuel to the fire. Captain Hamad was a captain-rank man. Even before the judicial commission was formed, Pervez Musharraf appeared on TV in his uniform and said that Captain Hamad is innocent. Bugti was already furious against the army. When the incident of rape on his land occurred and was then suppressed, he lost his temper. At that time, someone asked Akbar Bukti that Dr. Shazia is a Sindhi; why are you making this incident a matter of your honour? Akbar Bugti’s answer was simple. No Sindhi will raise his voice on this issue. I don’t appeal to dead people. Mir Chakar’s advocate took the law in his own hands. Rocket attacks started on army vehicles and Sui field. Sui Field became a warzone.
An unstoppable series of Interforce attacks started. When the matter started getting out of hand, then the government propaganda machine started character assassination of Shazia Khalid. Dr. Shazia could not tolerate it anymore, and she tried to commit suicide, which was foiled by her family members. Now the government started forcing Shazia’s family to leave the country when the President of Pakistan himself said that he is not guilty, he is innocent, and that before Captain Hamad’s tribunal, they announced that he is innocent to a main suspect, then the matter ends. Which judge or which court of Pakistan would take that case, i.e., the victim, who was oppressed and was threatened with death, went to London with her family, and the government breathed a sigh of relief. That is the extent to which these people go to protect the sins of their people and just to validate the statement of chief, this is the true face of Pakistani Establishment.
Giving an interview to the Washington Post, Pervez Musharraf said that I know very well the business of making money, get raped and get a visa and settle abroad. This statement ignited a fire. When Musharraf said that the American newspaper had misinterpreted his words, a few days later the Washington Post put the entire recording on the website, but what harm would it do to Musharraf? He was America’s puppet in the war against terror, but now his entire focus was on Nawab Akbar Bugti. After the formation of Pakistan, three military operations were conducted in Balochistan, but Dera Bugti always remained safe from them. The state did not have any special complaint against the Bugtis till now; why would it have? They were always loyal to Pakistan. Nawab always pledged his alliance after all those injustices, but it was now intolerable for him, and rightly so. After targeting gas fields, Musharraf got this opportunity. If you toe the line of the government, then you are our country a traitor to everyone, but the rapists and dictators are the only patriotic citizens of pakistan, same old narrative of a particular institution of Pakistan that ruined it.
Another Traitor Killed
The army started bombing Dera Bugti. Akbar Bukti kept saying in every interview that a decision should be taken to kill him and Nawab Khair Bakhsh Mari’s son Balaji. In March 2005, Dera was attacked by tanks and planes. Heavy bombing was done. Dozens of people were killed and 1.5 lakh people were displaced. Another successful war of the Pakistani army to conquer there own people was underway. Akbar Bugti had no option but to leave his home. He turned to the mountains. The Nawab who used to travel by aeroplanes was roaming around on the back of a camel in the last part of his life. While giving an interview to Time magazine, Akbar Bugti said that he would prefer to die fighting rather than in bed. Nawab Akbar Bugti’s loyalty to Pakistan is like this All his life he never spoke of separation He never talked about fighting, but there is only one institution considered loyal to Pakistan; the rest are always under pressure of being declared traitors. On the morning of 26 August, the army squad reached Bugti’s hideout in Bhur What happened after that, No one was left alive to tell the story
If it is said that he was one of those leaders in politics for whom only one word is enough, and that is “Daler Bahadur,” the one with a big heart. Nawab Akbar Bugti married three times and had a total of 13 children from them, six sons and seven daughters. The legacy of Nawab Akbar Bugti is still going on. His grandsons are still in politics and are still relevant in the politics of Balochistan and Pakistan. When such Daler people leave, that void is filled with great difficulty, but among the children of their children, no such Daler man was born who could fill the shoes of Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti, a true patriot.