Third Balochistan conflict

Add links
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Third Balochistan Conflict
Part of the Insurgency in Balochistan

Physical map of Balochistan, Pakistan, where the fighting took place.
Date1963 – 1969
Location
Balochistan, Pakistan
Result

Pakistani victory

Belligerents
 Pakistan Parrari
PFAR
Baloch Liberation Front
Bugti militia
Supported by:
Afghanistan[1]
Iraq Iraq[2]
 Syria[2]
Commanders and leaders
Pakistan Ayub Khan
Pakistan Yahya Khan		 Sher Mohammad Marri
Mir Ali Mengal
Units involved
 Pakistan Army
 Pakistan Air Force		 Parrari
PFAR
BLF
Bugti militia

The Third Balochistan Conflict refers to an insurgency by Baloch separatists against the Pakistani government lasting from 1963 till 1969 with the aim to force Pakistan to share revenues from gas reserves in Balochistan, freeing up of Baloch prisoners and dissolution of One Unit Scheme.

Background[edit]

Following the introduction of a new constitution in 1956 which limited provincial autonomy and enacted the 'One Unit' concept of political organisation in Pakistan.[3][4] Tension continued to grow amid consistent political disorder and instability at the federal level.[3][4] Multiple Baloch parliament members were dismissed.[5] The federal government tasked the Pakistan Army with building several new bases in key areas of Balochistan.[3][4]The Basic Democracies during Ayub military regime gave an indirect representation which created democratic problems in Pakistan and this indirect rule system gave the considerable authority to the tribal Sardars in Baluchistan so in the military regime the non democratic thoughts of the tribe chiefs were rose up and non-democratic constitution of 1962 made stronger the authority of the Sardars to continue as aggressive to the NAP as they had to the KNP. The unrelenting denial of the military regime to lodge the Baluchi interests, and the brandishing of such interest as sub-nationalist, took several political protesters to drive for a separate Baluchi state and radical and leftist Baluch political parties like Baluch National Liberation Front, and the Baluchi Student Organization were launched and they started agitations and protests against Ayub regime. They organized and arranged different gatherings in different areas of Baluchistan and as a result, the second rebellion in Baluchistan broke out from the Marri tribal area in 1962.

Insurgency[edit]

Sher Muhammad Bijrani Marri led like-minded militants into guerrilla warfare from 1963 to 1969 by creating their own insurgent bases.[6][7][8][9][3][4] Their goal was to force Pakistan to share revenue generated from the Sui gas fields with the tribal leaders and lifting of One Unit Scheme.[10][9] The insurgents bombed railway tracks and ambushed convoys and raided on military camps.[5][11][9]

The guerrillas decided for themselves the honorific Pararis (Baluchi for Mountainers) and guerrilla rebellion and resistance movement reached the other areas of Balochistan. The Pararis organized various base camps of different sizes spread over from Mengal tribal areas of Jhalawan to the Marri and Bugti areas. The earliest regular encounter of Pakistani armed forces with Baluchis was in 1964 when Sardar Ata-ullah Mangal challenged the writ of the government. The military was sent to crush the rebellion of Mengal tribe. The activists at the start ensnared a platoon of armed forces near Khuzdar and murdered all the troops in a defile area. The local Baluchi people were familiar with the area very well and believed in hit and run type of battle. So they started guerrilla resistance and war against military. They took the control of hill tops and did not allow Pakistani troops to move in to their areas. The armed forces took out the activists from the hill-tops with the help of B-57s of PAF.They would obey their Sardars even to the peril of their lives. The activists adopted only the guerrilla’s war strategy and kept away from large-scale fixed encounters with the army. They only harassed the government services by ambushing convoys, bombing trains, sniping and raids on military camps. In retaliation, the army staged a series of offensives, reprisals and air bombardments whose main brunt fell on the people. This had the unintended consequence, as elsewhere in irregular wars, of expanding and consolidating support for the guerrillas. Atrocities by the army were widespread, earning General Tikka Khan,commander of the Balochistan theater, the unflattering sobriquet of Butcher of Balochistan, long before he earned further such 'glory' in East Pakistan. The activists carried on their fighting against armed forces until 1969, when Ayub Khan was thrown by another military dictator General Yahya Khan due to Revolution. The period of military regime of Ayub Khan is often quoted as Pakistan’s era of permanence, stability and economic growth. In fact, however, many of Baluchistan’s present socio-political and economic problems can be traced back to the Ayub Khan period. The military regime has constantly pursued lopsided economic development in Pakistan concentrated in a few hands and in specific geographic regions. The division and alienation of ethnic groups, impoverishment of the vast majority of people and a total abandonment of politics are the real lasting legacies of military-style governance in Pakistan. The military dictator General Yahya Khan sued for a cease-fire with the Pararis. In spite of their recognition of a cease-fire, the Pararis were persuaded a revitalization of hostilities with Islamabad was only a matter of time. The Pararis upheld their guerrilla forces unharmed and enlarged their reach, powers and numbers after the 1969 cease-fire. In certain areas, they were capable to run a virtual parallel government. General Yahya Khan broke up of One Unit on July 1, 1970 and Baluchistan for the first time became a full-fledged province. But no attempt was done to take the internal administration of the province in line with those of other provinces. The general elections were held under the Legal Frame Work Order in December 1970 for the first time in the history of Pakistan and the result of the 1970 elections unleashed a whole set of new and contradictory forces into the political agenda.[12]

PFAR[edit]

Main article: Popular Front for Armed Resistance

Popular Front for Armed Resistance, or PFAR, was a separatist organisation[1] formed during the 1960s.[1] The group is responsible for series of bomb blasts in Pakistan.[3][4] Most of outfit's activists were trained in Afghanistan. For the outfit, Afghanistan was good place to obtain weaponry and others goods.[1][7]

Parrari[edit]

Main article: Parrari

Parrari or Parari was a terrorist outfit founded by Sher Mohammad Marri in the 1962. The outfit was responsible for series of attacks against Pakistani civilians and security forces. The outfit continued its attacks until 1969.[3][4][10][13].Sher Mohammad Marri was the first Baloch to use the tactics of modern guerrilla warfare against the government. In early 1960s his Parari fighters attacked the Pakistani Armed Forces in the Marri area and in Jahlawan under Mir Ali Muhammad Mengal.[10] This campaign came to an end in 1967 with the declaration of a general amnesty.[10][3][4]

Bugti militia[edit]

Main article: Bugti militia

Bugti militia also actively partook in this conflict against Pakistan armed forces.

BLF[edit]

Main article: Balochistan Liberation Front

Balochistan Liberation Front the group was founded by Jumma Khan in 1964 in Damascus, and played an important role in the 1968–1973 insurgency in Sistan and Baluchestan province of Iran [6] which ultimately spilled over into Pakistan [6] with BLF launching raids on Pakistani outposts.[6][3][4][2] Iraq openly and quite actively supported this group against Pakistan and Iran by providing financial support, weapons and training which ultimately led to 1973 raid on the Iraqi embassy in Pakistan.[2][7] Syria also provided support to this group.[2][7]

Military response[edit]

The Pakistan Army retaliated by destroying the militant camps.[5][3][4] Pakistan Army bombed multiple villages with separatist presence. Pakistan Air Force also led a bombing campaign on the tribal areas with separatist presence[3][4][5] which not only destroyed multiple separatist bases but also destroyed vast agricultural farmland.[5]

Ceasefire and Aftermath[edit]

This insurgency ended in 1969, with the Baloch separatists agreeing to a ceasefire granting general amnesty to the separatists as well as freeing the separatists. In 1970 Pakistani President Yahya Khan abolished the "One Unit" policy,[10][3][5][9][14] which led to the recognition of Balochistan as the fourth province of West Pakistan[3][4] (present-day Pakistan), including all the Balochistani princely states, the High Commissioners Province, and Gwadar, an 800 km2 coastal area purchased from Oman by the Pakistani government.[15]

Further reading[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d "Popular Front for Armed Resistance". South Asia Terrorism Portal Index (SATP). Retrieved 5 May 2019.
  2. ^ a b c d e "Baluch Liberation Front – Mapping Militant Organisation". web.stanford.edu. Retrieved 1 December 2018.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l The Thistle and the Drone.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Native Population And Original Form Of Government.
  5. ^ a b c d e f "Baloch ethnicity and history" (PDF).
  6. ^ a b c d Baloch conflict with Iran and Pakistan.
  7. ^ a b c d Baloch nationalism and Soviet temptation.
  8. ^ Pakistan and the Balochistan conundrum.
  9. ^ a b c d Development Strategies, Identities, and Conflict in Asia.
  10. ^ a b c d e Farhan Hanif Siddiqi (4 May 2012). The Politics of Ethnicity in Pakistan: The Baloch, Sindhi and Mohajir Ethnic Movements. Routledge. pp. 64–. ISBN 978-1-136-33696-6.
  11. ^ Development Strategies, Identities, and Conflict in Asia.
  12. ^ Fani, M.I.; Shahab, S.; Nadeem, M.; Hussain, Q.A.; Ismail, M. (2011-04-01). "(PDF) The resurgence of baluch ethnicity and nationalism in Baluchistan". ResearchGate. p. 656–673. Retrieved 2024-05-20.
  13. ^ J. Jongman, Albert (1988). Political Terrorism: A New Guide to Actors, Authors, Concepts, Data Bases, Theories, & Literature. Transaction Publisher. ISBN 1-4128-0469-8.
  14. ^ "Asia Report No. 119". Pakistan: The Worsening Conflict in Balochistan. International Crisis Group. 14 September 2006. p. 4.
  15. ^ Newspaper, From the (2018-12-18). "Purchase of Gwadar". DAWN.COM. Retrieved 2024-05-20.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Third_Balochistan_conflict&oldid=1224826432"