Akbar Bugti

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti (born July 12, 1927 in Barkhan , † August 26, 2006 in Tratani , Kohlu District ) was a Pakistani politician and rebel leader. Bugti devoted his life to the struggle for Balochistan's autonomy .

Life

Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti was the leader of the Bugti tribe in Balochistan. In his youth he studied political science and law in Oxford and Lahore . After returning to his homeland, which had become part of the newly established state of Pakistan in 1947 , he began his political career. As a traditional nawab (prince) of his tribe, Bugti enjoyed a great reputation among the population.

In 1958 he was briefly Minister of State for Defense in the Pakistani cabinet. However, he lost this post after a few weeks due to the coup of General Muhammad Ayub Khan on October 8, 1958. Bugti was arrested and tried in 1960 before a military tribunal . He was banned from exercising any public office. Until the democratic elections in 1970, Bugti tried in vain to regain his civil rights through legal means.

Although he had not participated in the 1970 elections due to the legal disputes, he was appointed governor of Balochistan on February 15, 1973 by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto . After disagreements with the central government, he resigned on January 1, 1974. After General Mohammed Zia ul-Haq's military coup on July 5, 1977, Bugti went underground for the first time.

When Pakistan returned to democracy in 1988, Bugti joined the Balochistan National Alliance and was elected Chief Minister of Balochistan on February 4, 1989 . Disputes with the central government under Benazir Bhutto led to the dissolution of the provincial assembly and Bugti's resignation the following year.

For the elections in 1990 Bugti founded its own party, the Jamhoori Watan Party (JWP). In the 1990s, the JWP was the largest party in Balochistan and was also considered to be the majority funder of the Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto governments . In 1993, Bugti was elected to the Pakistani Parliament as a member of the JWP.

When General Pervez Musharraf on 12 October 1999 to power a coup , and the participation of JWP ended at the central power. The provincial governments and parliaments were dissolved. The October 2002 elections in Balochistan brought a government made up of Islamist parties and a Musharraf faction of the PMLQ (Pakistan Muslim League-Qaid) to power.

At the same time, the Musharraf government began in 2000 to push ahead with the exploration of gas fields in Balochistan. Bugti organized the military resistance and, with his armed rebel troops, attacked connecting roads, gas production facilities and army posts.

Since December 2004 the fighting has increased massively; the Pakistani central government temporarily deployed up to 50,000 soldiers to fight the rebels. After Bugti had initially relied on negotiating the Balochistani nationalists to participate in the income from the gas business in parallel to the use of military means, he went underground in early 2006 and joined the rebels. As a result, there were more attacks on gas pipes and the armed forces .

Bugti died on August 26, 2006 during a skirmish with Pakistani security forces in a cave complex near Tratani in the Kohlu district of Balochistan. His death sparked unrest in the region. In Quetta was a state of emergency imposed. The violent protests did not stop after several days.

Politics and prestige

As a traditional authority, Bugti was held in high regard by his tribesmen. The German journalist Heinz Helfgen , who was welcomed by Bugti as a guest in the early 1950s, describes the tribal leader as "a highly talented, educated conservative in Pakistani politics who sought a harmonious transition for his people from the Middle Ages to the modern era".

As a central figure in the struggle for more autonomy for Balochistan, Bugti was often referred to as the "Tiger of Balochistan".

Critics, however, refer to him as a warlord and accuse him of having participated in the income from gas extraction and of having spent the income on weapons and ammunition instead of on the school and health system in his province. He is said to have provoked fighting between rival tribal groups and to have maintained his own prisons.

He was also considered a mentor of the guerrilla organization Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), whose goals include the establishment of an independent state of Balochistan, which will include parts of Afghanistan and Iran in addition to the Pakistani province of Balochistan . In Pakistan and Great Britain the BLA was classified as a terrorist organization and banned.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Strikes and riots in several parts of Balochistan , Der Standard , August 27, 2006 "Military killed rebel leader Nawab Akbar Bugri - demonstrators set office buildings and bank branches on fire."
  2. ^ Clashes at Baloch tribal memorial . BBC News. August 29, 2006. Retrieved September 11, 2010.
  3. ↑ Heinz Helfgen: I cycle around the world 1988, ISBN 3-87073-032-3
  4. ↑ Shahzada Zulfiqar: Commander, 23 Bugti tribesmen surrender . nation.com.pk. Archived from the original on October 9, 2007. Retrieved September 11, 2010.
personal data
SURNAME Bugti, Akbar
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Bugti, Akbar Khan
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Pakistani politician and rebel leader
DATE OF BIRTH July 12, 1927
PLACE OF BIRTH Barkhan
DATE OF DEATH August 26, 2006
Place of death at Tratani, Kohlu District