| Baloch insurgency | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Balochistan conflict | |||||||
Huey cobra attack helicopters (two Pakistan Army AH-1S Cobras pictured here at AVN Base, Multan) were supplied by Iran to Zulfikar Ali Bhutto's military operation against the insurgency. |
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| Belligerents | |||||||
| Pakistan
Supported by: |
Baloch separatists | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Tikka Khan Akbar Bugti Armed by: Post-combat: |
Khair Bakhsh Marri Ataullah Mengal Ghaus Bakhsh Bizenjo Armed by: |
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| Strength | |||||||
| 145,000 | 20,000 | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| about 3,000-3,300 killed[2] | ~5,300 killed[2] | ||||||
| ~6,000 civilians killed[2] | |||||||
The 1970s military operation in Balochistan was a a five-year conflict in which a separatist movement in Balochistan, the largest province of Pakistan, engaged with the Pakistan Army after then-Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto ordered a military operation in the region in 1973. The movement, initiated by Baloch nationalists in the aftermath of the secession of East Pakistan, had been fuelled by Bhutto's dissolution of successive provincial governments. It was largely coordinated by the Baloch sardars, or tribal chiefs, against Bhutto's operation, which was led by General Tikka Khan and aided by Iran. The conflict led to unrecorded civilian casualties, as well as heavy losses for the insurgency, until July 1977, when the Bhutto government was deposed by General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq.
The incoming martial law administrator, Lieutenant General Rahimuddin Khan, declared an amnesty and oversaw a complete military withdrawal in 1978, by which time he assumed the province's governorship. He then embarked on an ambitious series of development policies and bloodless military action that broke the insurgency, and is also credited to have led to the province's stabilization.[3] This period forms a pivotal chapter in the longstanding Balochistan conflict.
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The 1971 Indo-Pakistani War had ended with the defeat of Pakistan at the hands of India.East Pakistan declared 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 after the India-Pakistan War of 1971. India also played a large part in the independence of Bangladesh by arming and financing the separatist group Mukti Bahini which rebelled against the Pakistani State after the injustice done to the then East Pakistan. Massive genocide and crimes such as rapes and assaults were reportedly done by Pakistani troops stationed at East Pakistan. Most importantly, India sent its troops into East Pakistan to aid the Bengali separatists in suppressing the Pakistan army.
This would greatly influence Balochistan's leading political party, the National Awami Party. Led by ethnic 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 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 ,that might have involved a reduction in his powers, with chief minister Ataullah Mengal in Quetta and Mufti Mahmud in Peshawar. The already significant civil unrest now turned volatile as tensions between the NAP and Bhutto erupted.
The ethno-separatist rebellion of Balochistan,of the 1970s, the most threatening civil disorder to 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. Following the alleged discovery of Iraqi arms in Islamabad in February 1973, Bhutto dissolved the Balochistan Provincial Assembly and infuriated Balochistan's political oligarchs.
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 ethno-separatists 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 ethno-separatists fought the Pakistani Army and the Air Force. Sensing the seriousness of the conflict, Pakistan Navy dispatched its logistic units under the command of Vice-Admiral Patrick Simpson—Commander of the Southern Naval Command—provided its logistic and intelligence support to Army and Air Force from the Sea. The Navy had applied an effective naval blockade in Balochistan's water and stopped the illegal arm trade and aid to Baloch rebel groups. In a separate naval operations led by navy, the navy had seized and destroyed vessels that were trying to aid the Baloch rebel groups. The Iranian military, fearing a spread of the greater ethnic resistance in Iran, also aided the Pakistani military.[4] Among Iran's contribution were 30 Huey cobra attack helicopters and $200 million in aid. The Pakistan government declared its belief in covert Indian intervention just like the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation.However India claimed that it was fearful of further balkanization of the subcontinent after Bangladesh and stated it had not interfered. After three days of fighting the separatists were running out of ammunition and so withdrew by 1976.
The army had suffered more than 3,000 casualties in the fight while the rebels lost 5,000 people as of 1977.[2]
Although major fighting had broken down, ideological schisms caused splinter groups to form and steadily gain momentum. Despite the overthrow of the Bhutto government, calls for secession and widespread civil disobedience remained. The military government then appointed General Rahimuddin Khan as Martial Law Administrator of Balochistan as well as Governor. Rahimuddin's immediate steps were to implement a general amnesty for belligerents willing to give up arms. He oversaw military withdrawal thereafter. Rahimuddin then pointedly isolated the more prominent feudal figures of Balochistan from interfering in provincial affairs.[5] Defusing their influence, coupled with authoritarian government, caused the Baloch separatist movement to grind to a virtual standstill.[6] Prominent tribal sardars Ataullah Mengal and Khair Bakhsh Marri left the province for foreign countries, whereas Akbar Bugti aborted his separatist activities.[7] No effective protests, civil disobedience or anti-government movements took place throughout Rahimuddin's rule.
Governor Rahimuddin's tenure also ushered in sustained development.[6] Following the Soviet invasion of neighboring Afghanistan in 1979, Rahimuddin used the resultant foreign attention on Balochistan by introducing an externally financed development programme for the area.[8] Forty million dollars (USD) were committed to the programme by the end of 1987, by which time Rahimuddin had resigned.[9] He expedited the regulation of Pakistan Petroleum Limited, the exploration company charged with the Sui gas field. He consolidated the then-contentious integration of Gwadar into Balochistan, which had earlier been notified as a district in 1977. Addressing the province's literacy rate, the lowest in the country for both males and females,[10] he administered the freeing up of resources towards education, created girls' incentive programs, and had several girls' schools built in the Dera Bugti District. As part of his infrastructure schemes, he also forced his way in extending electricity to vast areas with subsoil water.[11]
Tensions have resurfaced recently in the province with the Pakistan Army being involved in attacks against a terrorist organisation known as the Balochistan Liberation Army. Attempted uprisings have taken place as recently as 2006.
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