Baloch Insurgency and Rahimuddin's Stabilization
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Nawab Bugti |
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|---|---|
| Country: | Pakistan |
| Date | |
| Time Period: | February 1978 – May 1984 |
| Region | |
| Pakistani Province: | |
| Area | |
| Stabilized Territory: | 347,190 km² |
| Principal Figures | |
| Civilian Prime Minister: | Zulfikar Ali Bhutto |
| Provincial Regime Governor: | General Rahimuddin Khan |
| Military President: | General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq |
| Insurgency Leaders: | |
The Baloch Insurgency was a series of secessionist rebellions in Balochistan, the largest province of Pakistan, from 1973 to 1976. Rahimuddin Khan's Stabilization was a series of administrative reforms and indirect military action aimed at undermining the 1970s insurgency by then-dictator General Rahimuddin Khan from 1977 to 1984.
The secession of Bangladesh earlier in 1971 encouraged Baloch nationalists to demand "greater provincial autonomy" from then-Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. After Bhutto's refusal to negotiate on any terms, the situation deteriorated into widespread civil disorder and armed uprisings, calling for the secession and independence of Balochistan.
With the overthrow of Bhutto's civilian government by a military dictatorship under General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, some stability was restored to Balochistan, but difficulties remained substantial enough to threaten the regional unity of Pakistan. To solve the problem with a hands-on approach, General Zia set up a military regime, to act as a separate entity independent of the central government, within Balochistan. General Rahimuddin Khan, then Lieutenant General, was appointed Martial Law Administrator and Governor over the regime, thus becoming the carte blanche dictator of the province.
General Rahimuddin Khan's subsequent provincial policies in his capacity as Governor (1978-1984), characterized by his distaste for appeasement and authoritarian style of government, have come to be known as the Stabilization of Balochistan. This is mainly due to his political success in securing social stability and greatly decreasing, if not stopping, civil disobedience movements within the province.
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[edit] Calls for Balochistan's independence
The 1971 Indo-Pakistani War had ended with the humiliating defeat of Pakistan at the hands of neighboring India, and East Pakistan declaring itself to be independent. It became a new sovereign state called Bangladesh, to be ruled by Bengali leader Shaikh Mujibur Rahman. Mujib had been a major personality in the events that had led to the war, having called for greater provincial autonomy and rights for what was then East Pakistan, only to be met with utter disapproval by the then military ruler Yahya Khan and his West Pakistan-based political opponent Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. Despite Mujib's having won the federal elections of 1970, both Yahya and Bhutto refused to let Mujib form the central government. The ensuing unrest gradually deteriorated into civil war, and ultimately the secession of Bangladesh.
This would greatly influence Balochistan's leading political party, the National Awami Party. Led by nationalists and feudal leaders such as Sardar Ataullah Mengal and Khan Wali Khan, the party dominated the province due to a the large amount of individual political influence its leaders held. Emboldened by the secession of Bangladesh, the party demanded greater autonomy and provincial rights from Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, who had become the new President of Pakistan following his predecessor Yahya Khan's resignation in December 1971, in return for a consensual agreement on Bhutto's Pakistan Constitution of 1973. Bhutto, however, refused to negotiate on any terms whatsoever with chief minister Ataullah Mengal in Quetta and Mufti Mahmud in Peshawar. The already significant civil unrest now turned volatile as provincial tensions erupted.
[edit] Nationalists' Rebellion
The Baloch rebellion of the 1970s, the most threatening civil disorder to a United Pakistan since Bangladesh's secession, now began. Surveying the political instability, Bhutto's central government sacked two provincial governments within six months, 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, the nationalist insurgency, which had been steadily gathering steam, now exploded into action, with widespread civil disobedience and armed uprisings. Bhutto now sent in the army to maintain order and crush the insurgency. This essentially pitted the Baloch people against the capital Islamabad. As casualties rose, the insurgency became a full-fledged armed struggle against the Pakistan Army. The sporadic fighting between the insurgency and the army started in 1973 with the largest confrontation taking place in September 1974 when around 15,000 Balochs fought the Pakistani Army and the Air Force. The Iranian military fearing a spread of the greater Baloch resistance in Iran also aided the Bhutto-sent Pakistan military in brutally putting down the insurrection.[1] The Pakistan government was also afraid of another Indian intervention just like the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War when the Indian Military played a vital part in defeating Pakistan leading to the secession of East Pakistan; however India was fearful of further balkanization of the subcontinent after Bangladesh and did not interfere. After three days of fighting the Baloch tribals were running out of ammunition and so withdrew b 1976. The army had suffered 25 fatalities and around 300 casualties in the fight while the rebels lost 5,000 people as of 1977.
[edit] Government Change and Stabilization
Although major fighting had broken down, ideological schisms caused splinter groups to form and steadily gain momentum. Despite the overthrow of the Bhutto government in 1977 by General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, calls for secession and widespread civil disobedience remained. The military government then appointed General Rahimuddin Khan as Martial Law Administrator and Governor over the province. The provincial government under the famously authoritarian Rahimuddin began to act as a separate entity and military regime independent of the central government.
This allowed General Rahimuddin to act as a dictator, unanswerable to the central government. Both General Zia-ul-Haq and General Rahimuddin Khan supported the declaration of a general amnesty in Balochistan to those willing to give up arms. Rahimuddin then purposefully isolated feudal leaders such as Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti and Ataullah Mengal from provincial policy. He also militarily put down all civil disobedience movements, effectively leading to unprecedented social stability within the province. Due to Martial Law, his reign was the longest in the history of Balochistan (1977 - 1984).
Tensions have resurfaced recently in the province with the Pakistan Army being involved in attacks against an insurgency known as the Balochistan Liberation Army. Attempted uprisings have taken place as recently as 2005.
