Akbar Khan Bugti (Urdu, Balochi: نواب اکبر شہاز خان بگٹی) (July 12, 1927–August 26, 2006) was the Tumandar (head) of the Bugti tribe of Baloch and served as Minister of State for Interior and Governor of Balochistan Province in Pakistan.[1]
After a wave of armed struggle started in Balochistan in 2004, Bugti was widely perceived as the leader but went underground in 2005. On August 26, he was killed in his cave in Kohlu, about 150 miles east of Quetta, leading to widespread unrest in the area
Early life and family
Nawab Akbar Khan was born in Barkhan the rural home of the Khetran a Baloch tribe to which his mother belonged and now a district of Balochistan, on July 12, 1927. He was the son of Nawab Mehrab Khan Bugti and a grandson of Sir Shahbaz Khan Bugti.[3] He received his early education from Aitchison College.[4][unreliable source?]
Balochistan conflict
Bugti was involved in struggles, at times armed ones, in Balochistan in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. He led the current movement in Balochistan for greater autonomy. He was the public face and provided political support for the movement while his grandson, Brahamdagh Khan Bugti, led the Bugti tribesmen.[5]
In recent years, he was accused by the Pakistani government of being a warlord and running a well-organized militia, sometimes thought to be the shadowy Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) with members numbering in the thousands. The BLA allegedly ran dozens of militant guerrilla training camps. While campaigning from the mountain ranges of Dera Bugti, he was, according to the Pakistani government, directing a “Mullah Omar” style guerrilla war. In July 2006, Pakistani president General Musharraf targeted him through aerial bombing, using air force jets and gunship helicopters. The leader of Balochistan National Party, Sardar Akhtar Mengal said, "The increase in bomb attacks in the Bugti and Marri areas are meant to target Baloch nationalist leader Nawab Akbar Bugti and his associates" and called upon the international community to take note of the situation.[6]
Death
On Saturday August 26, 2006, Bugti was killed when a shell exploded in the cave in which his camp was set.[7][8][9]
Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf termed his death a victory for Pakistanis and congratulated the secret service chief who carried out this operation.[10] Pakistan's Information Minister Mohammad Ali Durrani, confirmed that the operation included both air and ground assault.stating that Bugti's death occurred as the cave he was in collapsed.[11][12]
Aftermath
Funeral and rioting
Bugti's death was followed by rioting by thousands of students from the state-run Balochistan university and other balochs .[13] As the news flashed across television screens in Pakistan, the government deployed Rangers and paramilitary forces across major cities to prevent a backlash and impose a curfew in the provincial capital, Quetta.[13] Security arrangements for the Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf have been beefed up to the highest level, and his movement has since been very restricted, fearing a retaliatory attack. Security arrangements have been further enhanced in and around all airports of Pakistan. The media both in Pakistan and outside have severely condemend the killing as the "[m]ilitary’s second biggest blunder after Bhutto’s execution" and calling it a "political nightmare".[14] Others have linked it to the East Bengal crisis of 1971 where military violence eventually led to the Bangladesh Liberation War.[15]
On August 27, 2006, some private media broadcast news that Bugti's grandsons, Brahamdagh and Mir Ali, are still alive, but no official confirmation has been made.[citation needed]
On September 1, 2006 Bugti was buried in Dera Bugti with three locks on his coffin, next to the graves of his son and brother. His family, who wanted a public funeral in Quetta, did not attend the burial, they protested against his body being locked in the coffin.[16]
On 26 September 2010 Abdul Qayyum Khan Jatoi, a senior Pakistan federal minister criticized and accused the army of killing of Baluch leader Nawab Akbar Bugti in a raid in 2006. He was later made to resign following this disclosure.[17]
Investigation and prosection
On 11 July 2012 a Pakistani anti-terrorism court at Sibi in Balochistan province issued arrest warrants for former military ruler Pervez Musharraf and several others who were accused of involvement in the killing of Akbar Bugti in 2006.[18] The warrants were issued by Judge Muhammad Nawaz Khan of the anti-terrorism court at Sibi in Balochistan province. The arrest warrants were issued for Pervez Musharraf, former Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, former interior minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao, former Balochistan Governor Owais Ghanni, former chief minister Jam Yusuf, former provincial home minister Shoaib Nosherwani and former deputy commissioner Abdul Samad Lasi. All of them were named as suspects in an FIR registered by police regarding the killing of Bugti in a military operation that was ordered by Musharraf.[18] Musharraf was formally arrested by a police team from Balochistan on 13 June 2013.[19].[2]
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