The
Outcome Of The Killing Of Bugti
By Sorit Gupto
01 September, 2006
Countercurrents.org
" They're taking away food from the local people's
mouth. This is unacceptable. Now people are being brought in, even for
unskilled labour. After 50 years of continuous struggle, only a 52 per
cent figure of employment has been achieved for the unskilled local
population. What sort of justice is this?" answered Nawab Akbar
Khan Bugti , senior Baloch leader and president of the Jamhoori Watan
Party , when he was asked about the Balochistan freedom struggle, by
the BBC in the February this year.
Born in July 12, 1927, Bugti
was involved in failed insurgencies in Balochistan in the 1950s,1960s
and 1970s, appointed Governor of Balochistan in 1973, elected Chief
minister of the state in 1989, but due to disagreement with the Federal
government headed by Benazir Bhutto of Pakistani Peoples Party , his
government was dissolved in 1990. After forming his own political party
the Jamhoori Watan party in 1990, Bugti had launched the Balochistan
Freedom Struggle from 2004.
The so called separatist
movement of Balochistan has a long history which dates back to some
fifty years or so and the basic cause is the unequal distribution of
the wealth which now become almost at the level of exploitation as,
according to a report published in the Dawn in Aug 5, 2006, a political
observer remarked and pointed out that the real cause of the fighting
is Sui , Pakistan's largest gas fields in Balochistan which was the
main source of cheap gas for the last 50 years. Sindh, Punjab and the
NWFP owe their industrial development and economic progress to Sui gas.
Balochistan has suffered because of federal government policies and
unending profiteering of the two gas distribution companies.
He further added that the
time has come for the people of Sindh, Punjab and the NWFP, who kept
their kitchen fire burning for the last 50 years from Sui gas, to compensate
Baloch people.Balochistan wants a greater share in gas revenue from
the Sui Southern Gas distribution system on the plea that its well-head
cost is almost zero. It is zero because the investment was made more
than 50 years ago.
Existing gas fields in Balochistan
supply 45% or 11 billion cubic meters of Pakistan's total gas requirements
that generates $1.4 billion annually in revenue ,but the Pakistani government
remits only $116 million in royalties back to Balochistan. To crush
the 'separatist' movement of the Balochistan, the Pakistani security
forces has till date used all kind of methods , from carpet bombing
upto the use of poison and phosphorus gas killing thousands of people
till date.
Balochistan has great natural
wealth. And the Baloch people have long accused the central government
of taking most of it, neglecting the province. The true intention of
Islamabad is clear ,It doesn't need the people of Balochistan, it just
wants the resources. But the Baloch people want to control their natural
wealth. For them this is a national struggle.
Islamabad has not only exploited
the natural gas resources of the province but also used the province's
strategic location for testing nuclear devices and established cantonments
but has done practically nothing for the development of the region.
All of the things has resulted in the utmost dissatisfaction in the
Baloch people against the federal government of Islamabad and they has
been raising the voice of dissent and Bugti was one of the most important
and prominent flag bearer of the Baloch nationalist struggle.
Nawab Akbar khan Bugti belongs
to the tradition of the leaders and activists who raised their voices
against the indiscriminate exploitation of their home land, and in this
aspect he had some striking similarity with another activist and leader,
Ken Saro Viva of Nigeria who also laid his life for the cause of the
local population against the plundering of the natural resources of
Niger delta and its local population of Ogonis .
It is much more than just
a coincidence that both Bugti and Ken Saro Viva killed by their military
junta .
Niger delta of Nigeria which
is also known as the 'Nigeria's Kuwait' for its rich oil reserves have
brought renewed worldwide protest against multinational oil companies
that have been stealing the natural resources, and destroying the livelihoods,
of indigenous ethnic groups of the region. Well over 2,000 people were
killed, and thousands more made refugees, in the (continuing) struggle
of the Ogoni people, which received a considerable amount of attention,
particularly after poet and environmentalist Ken Saro-Viva was executed
with eight others in 1995. Now It is the Ijaw, however, who are currently
under attack for defending their homeland. Like the Ogoni, they have
seen their lands destroyed and still live in crushing poverty while
corporations and rulers make fortunes. Two thirds of Nigerian oil is
extracted from Ijaw lands. In Nigeria, power does not flow from the
people - it comes from Shell. Fully 90% of Nigeria's export earnings
are from oil. Oil also makes up 80% of the Nigerian government's revenues.
Half of Nigerian oil is produced by Shell. The revenues from the sale
of that oil are used by the brutal Nigerian military dictator, General
Sani Abacha, to suppress the freedom of all Nigerians.
The peoples struggle in the
Niger Delta or Baluchistan for self government and for the right over
the their resources and land is indicative of the plight of indigenous
and tribal population people everywhere in the globe including India.
After his killing Bugti becomes hot favorite of India for obvious reasons.
India wants to exploit and take the political mileage of this misadventure
of General Musharraf as much as possible and that is why there are a
number of stories and edits in the media about the political , military
and economic fallout of the killing of Bugti. However at the same time
no one has the time to talk about the real problem of Balochistan that
is the proper sharing of the resources because particularly in this
area the track record of the Indian state is not very different from
that of the military junta of Nigeria or Pakistan .
In India, for various development
projects, millions of people has been uprooted from their natural habitat,
for last fifty years. Any voice of dissent is crushed ruthlessly like
the police firing on the tribal population of Keshpur in Orissa or the
recent police atrocities on the villagers of Dadari in the Uttar Pradesh,
or the atrocities against the Narmada Bachao Andolan to name a few.
The plundering of the natural resources and denial of the proper share
to the local people is not a new story for India. The provinces like
Bihar, Jharkhand, Chattisgarh , Asssam, Orissa can be termed as Balochistan
or Niger Delta of India as the population of the area mentioned above
are still living in absolute poverty though the outsiders has been making
huge profits by the regions rich natural resources.
Logically speaking the uprooted
tribal population has the first right over the developmental projects
for example the electricity generated by the big dams .But the reality
is the local population gets a nominal share in the so called development
in their and are offered just the menial jobs . That is why in the steel
plants in Bhilai or Tata the major share of the unskilled and contractual
labor force is comprised of the local population. That is what the local
population gets as a reward after losing their land and natural resourcess.
One can find the same thing in the tourist resorts of the hill stations
where mostly the hotels and resorts are owned by outsiders and the local
population is doing the ill paid job of chefs, boys, coolies.
It looks ridiculous that
India is making a lot of noise over the killing of Bugti , because countless
Bugtis and Ken Saro Vivas has been ruthlessly killed, jailed and harassed
by the federal government of India for last five decades branding them
terrorist, anti development and anti Indian.That is the real share of
'development' which the local population has been getting since las
fifty nine years. The brutal police firing on the triabals of Muthunga
forest, The incidence of Keshpur upto the recent agitation by the villagers
of Dadri of western Uttar Pradesh the list is endless.The bone of contention
in between the villagers of Dadri with the UP government is the demand
of one job per family and the price of their land according to the market
rate , who are going to loss their land for the power project. For the
State Government this demand is unjust. And to maintain the law and
order and to crush the agitation of the villagers the
Mulayam Singh government used all sorts of force and tactics including
enactment of the prohibitory order , banning the free movement of the
locals people from one place to another. This step was utterly aginst
the constitution because it denies one of the very fundamental right
of the people that is freedom of movement. But who cares?
Only time will tell what
Pakistani junta will take the lesson from this misadventure of the killing
of Bugti . But what will the Indian state is going to get lesson from
this killing?
After all this hue and cry
for the killing of Bugti that is the real big question.