By Sarfaraz Ahmed
Sardar Bugti, while alarmed over what he sees as impending army action in Sui and Dera Bugti, has stepped up efforts to woo disgruntled Baloch Sardars and other leaders in his bid to form a single Baloch nationalist party working for the Baloch people’s rights, which, according to the rebel leaders, continue to be usurped by Islamabad or the Punjab.
Hence, the Jamhoori Watan Party’s central working committee decided at a two-day meeting in Dera Bugti on November 12-13 to reach out to Ataullah Mengal, Khair Bux Marri, Dr Abdul Hayee and Mir Ghulam Mohammad Baloch and convince them to form a single party. Should they agree to the proposal mooted by Bugti, his party would be the first to dissolve itself.
But Bugti will find it tough to get the support he wants. There are many reasons for his predicament. Firstly, he has a reputation as "an agent of the Establishment" for the role he played during the 70s against the National Awami Party, which the government banned on February 10, 1975. The Supreme Court of Pakistan, on October 30, 1975, held that the party was working for an independent Pakhtunistan at the cost of Pakistan’s territorial integrity. Prior to the Supreme Court verdict, the government had set up a special tribunal popularly known as the Hyderabad Tribunal. The Awami Party leadership included Khan Abdul Wali Khan, Ghous Bux Bizenjo, Khair Bux Marri and Ataullah Mengal.
Ghous Bux Bizenjo is dead. Wali Khan is 89 and has been bed-ridden for over a year. But Mengal and Marri, particularly the former, are still calling the shots as far as Balochistan’s politics is concerned.
It is alleged that Bugti on January 31, 1973, claimed at a public meeting at Mochi Gate, Lahore, that Wali Khan and Ataullah Mengal shared with him the ’Independent Balochistan Plan’, through which Balochistan could be placed ’under the heel of one or more foreign power’. He also reportedly claimed that the foreign headquarters supporting the ’Greater Balochistan Plan’ were located in Baghdad. This common perception among the nationalists does not put Mr. Bugti in a good light.
There is also the view tha Akbar Bugti served as an agent of the federal government when he was appointed Balochistan governor by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto at the time of the insurgency and that he spoke not a word in favour of Baloch rights or provincial autonomy.
But Sardar Bugti says that he resigned on December 31, 1973, shortly after Bhutto launched the army operation in Balochistan. He says he left when ghamsan ki larai (fierce skirmishes) began. However, he adds, that he doesn’t absolve himself from responsibility. "I am not absolving myself. I was governor. You can’t change history. You can’t belie history. I don’t say I did something great or something fine. No great or fine things happened during that period [his governorship]," Sardar Bugti told Daily Times in July.
Only a whole hearted positive response from Baloch nationalists, particularly those who have suffered on account of army action, to Sardar Bugti’s call for unity at this point in time will determine whether he has been able to restore his tarnished image among all Baloch people.
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=20051115story_15-11-2005_pg7_50
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