Did Bugti blow himself up?

This is interesting twist.

Did Bugti blow himself up? - thenews.com.pk

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court has been approached to appoint a high-level judicial inquiry to probe into the death of Nawab Akbar Bugti with the petitioner insisting that the Baloch leader had committed suicide but his unfortunate demise has been exploited by foreign agencies through the separatist elements to destabilise Pakistan.

The petitioner in this case is Syed Zaid Hamid, who is represented through his counsel Raja Muhammad Irshad. Boththe petitioner and the counsel are generally known for their connections with the Pakistani establishment thus giving the impression as if they have been encouraged by military/ISI to get the issue of Bugti’s murder probed through an independent judicial inquiry commission.

Raja Irshad when approached said that though he has been representing the ISI and FC in different cases in various courts, in this particular case his services have been hired by the ZaidHamid’s think tank - Brass Track.

The petition, according to Raja Irshad, submitted before the apex court a week back seeks from the apex court to order a judicial inquiry through serving or retired judges of the Supreme Court to reach the real author of this crime as “the unfortunate death of late Nawab Akbar Bugti has provided fuel to those playing in the hands of foreign agencies out to destabilise Pakistan in general and the province of Balochistan in particular to achieve their global designs”.

The respondents in the petition are DG ISI, DG MI, Mian Nawaz Sharif, General (R) Pervez Musharraf, Shaukat Aziz, the then Balochistan governor Owais Ghani, ex-chief minister Jam Yousaf Khan, former interior minister Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao, ministries of interior and law, Jamil Bugti, Ahmadan Khan Bugti, Talal Bugti and Tariq Bugti.

The petitioner contends that a team of five special forces commandos were invited by late Bugti into his hiding cave to settle terms of surrender but once the officers entered the cave, he triggered an explosive device which brought down the entire cave, killing Bugti and the SSG men. “He committed suicide and also murdered the army officers,” the petition reads.

The petition added that Bugti had desired to meet the army officers in the cave before he could hand over his custody to the law enforcement agencies. There was no doubt, it is said, that the late Nawab was going to be lodged in a room especially arranged for him in the Governor’s House in Quetta.

The petition insisted that the latest insurgency in Balochistan has been ignited by a massive anti-state propaganda campaign that the Pakistan army and the state killed late Bugti in a well-planned conspiracy to eliminate the Baloch demands for rights.

“The judicial system of the country is also being exploited by the separatist sympathisers to attack and destroy the state of Pakistan through diabolic propaganda. The political parties in Pakistan like PML-N are also exploiting the situation to settle their personal score with former President Musharraf without looking into the facts of the case; hence are supporting the hostile and separatists’ propaganda and thus fuelling rebellion and insurgency,” the petition said.

The petition also said that the present MNA and cousin of late Nawab Mir Ahmadaan Bugti openly acknowledged that Bugti had committed suicide and had also murdered the army officers. “Every member of the Bugti clan knows this,” the petition added.

Referring to a story published by a Lahore-based English language newspaper the petition said the newspaper, run by a close friend of Nawab Bugti, reported that Bugti had refused to give himself up and had committed suicide.

But his death, it is said, is exploited by hostile and anti-state elements to launch propaganda war to prove late Bugti a victim of state terrorism and a deliberate conspiracy of murder.

The petition said that the family of Nawab Bugti has now started to exploit the judicial system of the state to launch a murder case against former president (Musharraf), former governor and former interior minister. “This is not just massive distortion of facts and gross violation of fundamental rights but also initiating a fake case to implicate innocent men. It is also dangerous for the state and the nation as the judicial system is being exploited to establish that the state of Pakistan was involved in the deliberate murder of late Nawb Akbar Bugti which, of course, is opposed to facts on ground.”

“In reality he had committed a rebellion, waged a war against the state and his own tribe and when cornered, he committed suicide while also murdered five army personnel, but these facts have never been reported by the media, never taken up by the courts and the separatists are fully exploiting lies, deceptions and propaganda in the environment to wage a war against the state of Pakistan, against the army and against the former members of the government in dangerous times.”

The petition prayed: “That the factum of death of late Nawab Akbar Bugti is shrouded in mystery which has triggered militants, insurgency and fuelled the feelings of separatists. It is a matter of cardinal and paramount importance and eminently required the intervention of this honourable court of ultimate jurisdiction as a guardian of Constitution of Pakistan. The entire nation looks up to the apex court as a beacon of light to shake off despondency and acute insecurity in the minds of highly aggrieved and panic-stricken people of Pakistan.”

Re: Did Bugti blow himself up?

Interesting lal topi brigade is behind this petition, who is a well known stooge of the agencies.

Re: Did Bugti blow himself up?

Maybe another cover up in the offing like saleem shahzad, abbotabad and missing person commissions (under justice javed Iqbal) who took intelligence agencies number for missing persons as a fact. These cover ups in the end push the Baloch away and make Pakistan as a laughing stock of the world.

According to Pakistan’s missing persons commission the people abducted in Balochistan are 57, and foreign agencies are responsible for the abductions.

Where as according toUN experts more than 14000 people are missing.

Re: Did Bugti blow himself up?

But if they are asking for an independent judicial commission, then how can they be looking for a cover up?

I have no sympathy for Bugti. They guy did more to subjugate the balochis than even ZAB. He made billions out of sui gas royalties, and not a penny was passed on to the local population. Waderaism at its worst.

Re: Did Bugti blow himself up?

^ How many independent commissions do we need, does anything come out of it? Can they state anything against the agencies?

What has been the result of independent commission on Abbotabad operation, Saleem Shahzad and Missing persons?

Re: Did Bugti blow himself up?

If they cant state anything against the agencies, that would be a weakness of the judiciary. In all fairness, the judiciary has been flexing a lot of muscles lately, and a lot has been said against the 'agencies' in the recent past. They have been called to court, they have been summoned to the parliament, and they have been put on the spot. If nothing comes out of the inquiries, it is the commissions/judiciary's fault and weakness. If Iftikhar Chaudhry was bold enough to stand up to Musharraf, he surely can do the same against the 'establishment'.
And quite frankly, the 'establishment/agencies' slogan has become a convenient place to hide behind for everyone and sundry, specially our politicians, who like to attribute all successes to themselves, and all failures either to the past governments, or the establishment.

Re: Did Bugti blow himself up?

^ but then the extablishment are not all angels as well, most of our ills are due to their mentality.

Re: Did Bugti blow himself up?

Inquiry or no inquiry, the fact is that the first version of the story — that he was blown up — is so strong in our minds that we won't subscribe to anything else, even if Bugti himself is resurrected to testify that he blew himself up.

If you look at the character of the late Bugti, there is every reason to believe that he might have killed himself to avoid humiliation of surrender and arrest.

On the other hand, if you see the final assault, a direct result of rocket attack on Musharraf's convoy, we can safely assume that Musharraf was personally interested in eliminating the elder Bugti.

So both angles carry some weight thus far.

Now if we move a bit further, why Bugti would have resorted to such extreme step of killing himself whereas he had so much to bargain with the government? Even if he was arrested, it would have been a political case and he could have come out of it as a hero.

As far as rocket attack on Musharraf's convoy is concerned, there is no independent confirmation that Bugti was behind the attack. Musharraf's claim was contested and termed as fabricated by some sections of media and civil society.

At the end, we don't know what actually might have happened on the fateful day of 26 August of 2006 in Kohlu. There are stories of which you can pick anyone you are impressed with.

If you want truth, wait for the Judgement Day. It's Pakistan!

Re: Did Bugti blow himself up?

yes, its all conspiracy of yahood-o-nasaara, our green 'pak-saaf' army has not done anything wrong.

Re: Did Bugti blow himself up?

Noone implied that. But can our judiciary and prosecution do their job? Our 'strong' judiciary is complemented by an incompetent prosecution. The ruling party could not even bring the killers of their own party to justice. Are they also being pressured by the establishment?

Baluchistan's problems are more deep rooted than just Nawab Bugti and we all know that. All people seem to care about are a handful of feudals who have done nothing but suck the blood of their people (and the country).

Re: Did Bugti blow himself up?

so many conspiracy theories floating around, however, one cant deny the fact that Musharraf operation proved to be a disaster for Balochistan, situation just deteriorated further.

Re: Did Bugti blow himself up?

I don't why Pakistan has made a big issue of Bugti. There should be no place in Pakistan for anyone that challenges the writ of the state and fights the army.

Re: Did Bugti blow himself up?


The case of PPP leader being killed and new leadership not following up on it is very different one, so lets not throw that in establishment's court. This case however, army actually ordered killing of Bugti, now whether he actually poisoned himself right before the missile/shrapnels killed him or the poison (if at all) spread after the missile is pointless IMO.

Re: Did Bugti blow himself up?

The same thinking in the fifties and sixties resulted in breakup of Pakistan in 1971. Quaid's created Pakistan Army to save guard the borders of the country not to win again and again their own territory by crushing own people.

Re: Did Bugti blow himself up?

Fortunately or unfortunately when people are not given their rights for long enough they will stand up and fight for it, large population of Baluchistan has grievances about it and Bugti was their leader so it should be considered a "big issue".

Re: Did Bugti blow himself up?

I agree but then the state or who so ever carried out the murder should acknowledge it, and not try to hide behind conspiracy theories.

Re: Did Bugti blow himself up?

My friend, you are opening a pandora's box.
The army launched an operation against Bugti and Bugti was killed as a result of that operation. Whether Bugti died as a result of a direct hit by the army, or he committed suicide is besides the point, because either way, the military action was responsible for his death (directly or indirectly). The attack was based on a legitimate reason.

Now so long as we are going back in history, trying to account for all such atrocities, can we start with Bangladesh, and make someone acknowledge and apologize for that fiasco? And lets not dump that on the agencies either. The entire world knows what happened in 1971. And before Im told to discuss this in another thread, the point of this is to highlight the fact that noone gives a hoot when civilians bring about hell on the country, but when the 'establishment' does something similar on a much smaller scale, it becomes a convenient punching bag.

I suggest everyone go back in history and read up about Baluchistan and its history, and see who started the mess. The death of Bugti is not a valid court issue. The whole of Baluchistan is.

Re: Did Bugti blow himself up?

^ I do not condone the operation against the bugti's in any case, I consider it similar to the excuse given by the Americans when they try to dislodge rulers thought to be against their national interests. Similarly the plea taken by Musharraf was that he is ridding the baloch from the oppressive sardars who according to the previous general were against development in the area.

The issue started due to musharrafs arrogant way by which he started the construction of gwadar and cantonments in Sui and Marri areas, the situation now is that the establishment has just changed one set of sardars with another breed as a result the law and order situation is today much worse as compared to the time before the operation. Gwadar project has been shelved, cantonments have been rolled back.

From the first day the issue was political in nature, similar was the case with Bangladesh, but our army thinks that the solution to every thing is by force.

My friend read about the history of balochistan as well, if the military thinks that they can beat them into submission, that won't happen. Even the Brits or the Mughals didn't have complete control on them. The only way is to give them equal rights. Baloch are very simple people, you can win them over with love, but if you treat them like dirt then they also know how to take revenge.

And yes I do believe the culprits for this mess should be punished (this includes our egoistic generals who run the foreign and domestic policies of the country). If we had punished the ones responsible for Bangladesh we would not have been in this situation in the first place.

Re: Did Bugti blow himself up?

Zaid hamid is a pathological liar that he does not even know when he is lying. Brasstacks is not a think tank but a septic tank.

Re: Did Bugti blow himself up?

This is the simple answer to the whole question, which I mentioned in my initial post as well. And the rights of the Balochis are usurped primarily by their feudal lords, not the army. The Bugtis have been getting billions of dollars in Sui gas royalties. That money is supposed to trickle down to the balochis, not rest in the account of the feudals. The local and federal governments are 90% responsible for the mess.

[quote]
And yes I do believe the culprits for this mess should be punished (this includes our egoistic generals who run the foreign and domestic policies of the country). If we had punished the ones responsible for Bangladesh we would not have been in this situation in the first place.
[/QUOTE]

I think a readup of the Bangladesh fiasco is in order. While I dont disagree that Generals have made many errors and even committed crimes, it is sad to see people blame the "agencies and establishment" for all our ills. Reminds me of how India points the finger at ISI after any incident in India.

Our civilian governments have always used the armed forces for their personal gains and benefits, mainly to establish chokeholds on the country as a civilian. And they get away with it, because they are civilians. But when it comes to being answerable for crimes, the finger is pointed at the armed forces, because it is they, who committed the act. Noone realizes the fact that it was the civilians who got them to do it in the first place.

Sikander Mirza invited Gen Ayub to impose Martial law in 1958.
Zulfikar Bhutto himself ran a martial law regime in the 70s. (and dont forget the 1970 election fiasco)
ZAB politicized the ISI.
ZAB ordered the army to train afghan terrorists.
ZAB appointed an out-of-turn general as COAS in order to retain his chokehold on the country (which eventually backfired)
Nawaz Sharif appointed an out-of-turn general as COAS for the same reasons.....(again backfired)

Civilians need to clean up their act. The armed forces take their lead, so everything depends on what our politicians do.