As the Zia era came to a close, the sardari system
again came under pressure, gradually. The number of Baloch sardars was 75 then.
Each headed a separate tribe. In terms of population the Bugti, Mat-ri and
Mengal tribes were about one hundred thousand each. The Makranis in Lus Bela
Makran, Jiwani and other coastal districts are not ethnically Baloch. Only
three sardars i.e. Bugti, Mengal and Mat-ri, out of the 75 are really the
trouble-makers and black mailers. The rest are by and large law-abiding but the
three above mentioned sardars wield greater influence among the Baloch than all
others put together. The so-called Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) has the
immoral and material support of three warlords— Akbar Bugti, Khair Bux Man and
Ata-Ullah Mengal.
The above Baloch sardars led four insurgencies in
1948, 1958-59, 1962-63 and 1973-77. Now the fifth one is underway by better
organized and well equipped BLA’guerrillas. It has several training camps and
is well equipped with heavy weapons, small arms, modern communication systems
consisting of wireless radios and cell phones. The BLA internet web site
indulges in vicious propaganda against Pakistan, the Army and the Punjab to
mislead and indoctrinate the edacated Baloch youth.
The 1974-77 Marri-Mengal insurgency deserves
special study to understand the real nature of anti-state activities of the
belligerent element. Khair bux Mart-i and Ataullah Mengal had 60 thousand armed
fighters under their command. The insurgency continued for years till in 1977 it
was crushed by the Pakistan Army in which 3 thousand rebels were killed and
thousands injured. Khair Bux Marri fled to Afghanistan and Ataullah Mengal took
asylum in UK. Khair Bux Mat-ri had created the BLA in 1971 with Moscow’s
material support. The long term objective of the then USSR, being in control of
Afghanistan, was to extend its influence to Balochistan with dual purpose. Its
strategy was creation of an independent Balochistan to weaken Pakistan, as the
US ally on the one hand and on the other to establish its own influence in the
region to secure unhindered access to the warm waters of the Arabian Sea. Khair
Bux Mann, as a rabid Marxist-Leninist, had carried out indoctrination of his
tribesmen and served the cause of the USSR. As a member of the National
Assembly he refused to sign the Constitution of Pakistan in 1973. Even today he
is the mastermind behind the ongoing insurgency and anti-state BLA propaganda.
Ataullah Mengal, who became Chief Minister after the dissolution of One Unit in
1969, resorted to seize properties and
jobs of the people whom he alleged were non-Balochis. Now he demands not an
autonomous but an independent Balochistan.
The fact is that the policy of appeasement adopted
by the Federal government has blown the image and stature of these three
sardars out of proportion. They give the impression as if they are the
spokesmen of the whole of Balochistan. The fact is that they represent only a
minority. It is their nuisance value in the backdrop of vast silent and patriotic
majority that is the villain of the piece. 1t the last census Balochistan’s
population was 5.5 million which is now close to 6 million. It comprises 3
million Baloch only. Pushtuns are 2.5 million and the rest half million are
mixed races. Pushtun areas adjoining NWFP demand merger with NWFP or creation
of a separate province known as South Pushtunistan. Balochistan is not one
single ethnic entity. It is inhabited by Balochs, Pathans, Brohis, Sindhis,
Punjabis and Urdu speaking muhajirs.