History of Balochistan - Balochistan Conflict of The 1970s

Balochistan Conflict of The 1970s

This rebellion constitutes an infamous period in Pakistani history, second only to the Civil War of 1971 and subsequent loss of East Pakistan (now Bangladesh).

The National Awami Party, led by ethnic nationalists Ghaus Bux Bizenjo, Sardar Ataullah Mengal, Gul Khan Nasir, Khair Bux Marri, Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti and Khan Wali Khan, dominated Balochistan and the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP). At the time, even the Jamiat i Ulema i Islam of Maulana Mufti Mahmud (father of Maulana Fazlur Rehman) thought it fit to join hands with the ethnic nationalists to espouse the parochial cause.

Emboldened by the stand taken by Sheikh Mujib, the ethnic nationalists of the two provinces demanded their "provincial rights" from Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in exchange for a consensual approval of the 1973 constitution. But while Mr. Bhutto admitted the National Awami Party to a NAP-JUI coalition, he refused to negotiate with the provincial governments led by chief minister Ataullah Mengal in Quetta and Mufti Mahmud in Peshawar. Tensions erupted.

Within six months, the federal government had sacked the two provincial governments, arrested the two chief ministers, two governors and forty-four MNAs and MPAs, obtained an order from the Supreme Court banning the NAP and charged everyone with high treason to be tried by a specially constituted Hyderabad tribunal of handpicked judges. In time, an ethnic nationalist insurgency erupted and sucked the army into the province, pitting the Baloch tribals against Islamabad.

The 1970s conflict with the separatists, which manifested itself in the form of an armed struggle against the Pakistani army in Balochistan, was provoked by federal impatience,brought about by Bhutto's desire to monopolize as much power as possible,and high-handedness and undemocratic constitutional deviation. Mir Hazar Khan Marri headed the separatist movement under the Baluch People's Liberation Front (BPLF). Marri and the BPLF fled to Afghanistan, along with thousands of his supporters. Baluch separatists often fight today under related nicknames such as BLA, BLM, BLO, etc.

The irony was that Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti served the federal government when Bhutto appointed him Governor of Balochistan throughout the time of the insurgency; during this time, Bugti spoke not a word in favour of provincial autonomy. The greater irony was that the insurgency came to an end following the army coup of General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq against Mr. Bhutto's civilian government.

Soon thereafter, Gen. Zia unfolded plans to desensitize the alienated Baloch and Pashtun separatist leadership by a multi-faceted strategy aimed at co-opting the leaders into office while providing jobs and funds from the federal government to the alienated, insecure tribal middle classes. More significantly, Zia created maximum political space for the mullah parties in the NWFP and Balochistan so that they could be galvanized in the jihad against the USSR in neighbouring Afghanistan.

Divided, fatigued and shorn of its ideological moorings or avowed enemies such as Bhutto, the Greater Balochistan movement melted into memory over the next two decades.

The Iranian Baluchi were supported from the 1950s to 1980s by Arab nationalist leaders, especially Baathist regimes of Iraq and Syria and Egyptian leader Gamal Abdel Nasser. In the 1950s, Iraq supported Dad Shah. In the 1960s, Baluchi revolted against Iran, Iraq fully supported Baluchis but as a result of Baluchi tribal leaders negotiating with Shah of Iran, the Iraqi support for Baluchi shrank until in 1975, when Algerias settled dispute between Iraq. and Iran and Iraq stopped supporting Baluchis but Iraq ties with Baloch people did not end completely. In 1979, Iranian Revolution started the Iraq-Iran War, which ran from 1980 to 1988. Baghdad created a major problem for Iran by supporting Iranian Baluchi in its attack on Iranian Forces on the eastern side of the border by Baluchi separatist group Baluchi Autonomist Movement. During the war, intelligence established an office in Dubai run by Baluchis, to send spies into Iran.