In Taliban’s shadow, whither the Baloch?

By Ahmar Mustikhan

As India helplessly watched Kabul fall to Pakistan-backed Taliban on her 75th independence day August 15, the event apparently marked a major setback to independence aspirations of France-sized Balochistan.

Since day one, Afghanistan had provided a safe haven to Baloch dreamers of independence who challenged the colonial rule of Islamabad on their homeland. The first Baloch rebellion came in the wake of Pakistan’s military blitzkrieg March 27, 1948 when Prince Agha Abdul Karim, brother of the Khan of Kalat launched an armed resistance against Pakistan. He was the first to seek refuge in Afghanistan. According to Major-General Akbar Khan, the officer-in-charge of annexing Balochistan - the same officer who had earlier led Operation Gulmarg in Kashmir in October 1947 - Pakistan founder M.A. Jinnah personally ordered the censorship of news about the Baloch rebellion.

At least two clashes took place between the Pakistan army and the rebel force, which called itself the Baloch Mujahideen. Prince Karim tried to muster the support of Afghanistan, Iran, and the Soviet Union but failed. Afghanistan bluntly told Prince Karim that he and his men were welcome to live in Afghanistan as refugees but they could not use Afghanistan for attacks on Pakistan. Disillusioned by not getting any support, Prince Karim returned to Balochistan and was arrested along with 142 of his men. They were sentenced to long terms in prison and heavy fines.

Fast forward 1973, after Pakistan premier Zulfikar Ali Bhutto dismissed the popular government of chief minister Sardar Ataullah Mengal and governor Mir Ghous Bakhsh Bizenjo, an armed uprising ensued in Balochistan that continued until the ouster of the Bhutto government in 1977. Baloch insurgent leaders took refuge in Afghanistan during the 1973-77 insurrection returned after Gen Ziaul Haq made peace with the Baloch leadership.

Soon after, the Soviet-backed communists took power in Kabul in spring 1979. Nawab Khair Bakhsh Marri, a professed Marxist whose loyalists were the key drivers of the 1973-77 rebellion, shifted to Afghanistan along with at least 40,000 Marri tribesmen. The last pro-Soviet ruler of Afghanistan Dr Najeebullah highly revered the Baloch leaders and was seen flanked by Mir Ghous Bakhsh Bizenjo and Nawab Marri at one of his military parades in Kabul. However, Nawab Marri and his men returned to Balochistan after the Mujahideen ousted Dr Najeebullah in 1992.

Again, in 2005, the Pakistan army on the orders of military dictator Gen Pervez Musharraf launched a military crackdown in Balochistan against former governor and chief minister Nawab Akbar Bugti. Before his assassination along with 36 comrades, the late leader had frantically tried to contact then Afghan president Hamid Karzai for support but failed. However, Nawab Bugti’s favourite grandson and successor Nawab Brahumdagh Bugti and his comrades in arms, Nawabzada Balach Marri, a son of Nawab Marri, succeeded in reaching Afghanistan along with thousands of their supporters.

Balach Marri was killed in what was described as an accidental attack by the U.S. forces, while Brahumdagh Bugti later moved to Switzerland with about a dozen supporters. However, at least 10,000 Bugti tribesmen are still living as refugees in Afghanistan. Pakistan charges that these Bugtis are members of the militant Baloch Republican Army (BRA).

Leaders of the other militant outfits such as the Balochistan Liberation Front (BLF), Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) and United Baloch Army (UBA) were also in Afghanistan until shortly before the Taliban capture of Kabul. According to Baloch insiders, top leaders of these groups moved out of Afghanistan before the Taliban takeover.

Reports say, the homes of some of the militant leaders and their supporters were raided and ransacked in central Kandahar and in the town of Spin Boldak, bordering Pakistan. Bullet-proof vehicles of these leaders have also been seized by the Pakistan proxies. For years, Islamabad had been accusing without proof that the Indian consulate in Kandahar, which is shut down now, was providing support to Baloch militants.

Baloch activists are putting up a bold face to the challenges ahead, maintaining a this-too-shall-pass posture. Professor Naela Quadri, who had escaped to Afghanistan after she and her husband were hounded by the Pakistan army and intelligence services and later moved to Canada, is confident that the Baloch will weather the storm.

Professor Quadri, who extensively toured India five years ago when Prime Minister Narendra Modi hinted his government will support the struggle in Balochistan, maintains that the political environs have never been conducive for the Baloch resistance but still it has managed to persist. “Baloch youths are joining the militant outfits in large numbers. The resistance will continue indefin