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.
