Balochistan: In Iraq's Shadows

The widely-apprehended US-UK invasion of Iraq is already casting its shadow on the Balochi-inhabited areason both sides of the Pakistan-Iran border.

Immediately after the liberation of Bangladesh in 1971, large sections of the Balochi tribals led by KhairBux Marri, the leader of the Marri tribe, and Sardar Ataullah Khan Mengal, the leader of the Mengal tribe,rose in revolt against the Punjabi domination of Pakistan and demanded the creation of an independentBalochistan consisting of the Balochi-inhabited areas of Pakistan and Iran.

Amongst their grievances against Islamabad were: neglect of the economic development of the area;discrimination against the Balochis in respect of recruitment to the civilian Government services and theArmed Forces; the policy of re-settlement of large numbers of Punjabi and Pakhtun ex-servicemen in Balochistanwhich was viewed by them as an attempt to reduce the Balochis to a minority in their homeland; and non-paymentof royalty to the Balochi tribals for the utilisation of their natural resources for the benefit of the restof Pakistan.

The regime of the late Zulfiquar Ali Bhutto, the then Prime Minister, ruthlessly suppressed the revolt byusing its Air Force and with the co-operation of the regime of the Shah of Iran.  Some tribals, however,did not join the revolt and collaborated with the regime in suppressing their co-tribals.  Amongst thetribals who collaborated with the Government and the Pakistani military-intelligence establishment were theJamalis led by the family of Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali, the present Prime Minister of Pakistan.

After the suppression of the revolt, Khair Bux Marri and his supporters took shelter in Afghanistan alongwith some sections of the Mengals.  Ataullah Khan Mengal himself sought sanctuary in the UK.  Theyestablished contact with the authorities of the erstwhile USSR through the regime in Kabul and receivedfinancial and logistics support from Moscow.

When the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), through Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), trainedand armed the Afghan Mujhahideen and other Islamic fundamentalist elements and used them to bleed the Soviettroops in Afghanistan, the Marris and the Mengals kept away from the anti-Soviet jehad and helped the KGB, theSoviet intelligence agency, and the Khad, the Afghan intelligence agency, in collectiing intelligenceregarding the activities of the CIA and the ISI on the Pakistani side of the border. 

The Jamalis collaborated with the CIA and the ISI in countering the activities of the Marris and theMengals and their Marxist influence in Balochistan.  During the course of this collaboration with theCIA, Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali came in touch with Ms. Nancy Powell (no relation of Gen. Colin Powell, the USSecretary of State), who was then posted as a young CIA officer in Pakistan and who was posted last year bythe Bush Administration as the US Ambassador to Pakistan.  Jamali and Nancy Powell developed a closepersonal friendship, which has been carefully nurtured by Washington DC.  According to some sections ofthe Pakistani media, it was she who suggested to Gen. Pervez Musharraf, the Pakistani military dictator,Jamali's name for appointment as the Prime Minister after the elections of October 10 last.

The CIA, in tandem with the Iraqi intelligence, encouraged the Iranian Balochis who, like their Pakistanicounterparts, are largely Sunnis, to rise in revolt against the Islamic regime in Teheran.  Amongst theBalochi tribals of Pakistan, who helped the CIA and the Iraqi intelligence in fomenting the revolt on theIranian side of the border were the Jamalis, the Mazaris, the Bugtis and others. However, the Iranianauthorities had no difficulty in suppressing the revolt.

During this period, the Iraqi intelligence, encouraged and helped by the CIA and the ISI, developedconsiderable influence amongst the anti-Iran and anti-Shia tribals on both sides of the border.  Itmostly acted through the anti-Teheran Mujahideen-e-Khalq, a dissident group of Iran, and the Sunni extremistSipah-e-Sahaba, Pakistan (SSP).  As a result of the active past association of the Iraqi intelligencewith large sections of the Balochis, Iraq still retains considerable sympathy and support in Balochistan.

Balochistan has considerable strategic importance for the USA due to various reasons: Most of Pakistan'soil and gas resources are located in Balochistan and about 30 per cent of these are controlled by American oilcompanies, many of them from President Bush's home State of Texas.  It is an important window on Iran. 

If the US decides to overthrow the Iranian regime after getting rid of the Saddam Hussein regime in Iraq,the pro-US Balochi tribes, particularly the Jamalis, could be as useful to Washington DC as the Kurds areexpected to be against Saddam Hussein.  Balochistan is an escape route for the dregs of Osama bin Laden'sAl Qaeda and the International Islamic Front (IIF) trying to get away by sea into Yemen.

For the same reasons, Balochistan has become an important operational area for the dregs of Al Qaeda andthe IIF in their attempts to hurt US economic interests in Pakistan in retaliation for the US war against theTaliban and Al Qaeda in Afghanistan and its campaign against the Saddam Hussein regime.  They have beenreceiving assistance in their endeavours from the pro-Iraqi and anti-US segments of the Balochi tribals onboth sides of the Pakistan-Iran border.

Since December last, there have been at least four attacks on the oil and gas infrastructure in Balochistanby unidentified elements.  Available particulars of three of these incidents are given below:
 

• A powerful explosion on December 2, 2002,  blew off  a 26-inch gas pipeline of the Oil and GasDevelopment Corporation Limited near Uch in Balochistan and  disrupted gas supplies to the US-sponsored580mw Uch Power Plant.  After the initial investigations, the company  termed the incident asabotage activity. 
  
  "It is suspected that elements opposed to the stability of Pakistan have carried out yet another act ofsabotage, disrupting gas supplies to a foreign power generation plant, and thwarting the efforts for economicrecovery of the Government and the OGDCL at the same time," a company spokesman said.
  
  
• Two main gas pipelines connecting Pakistan's  gas transmission system with the Sui gas field inBalochistan were ruptured after a gas station was blown up by unidentified elements , either with a powerfulbomb or rockets fired from a distance,  on  January 21, 2003.  As a result, the  SuiNorthern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) closed down/curtailed gas supply to the  textile, steel, paper,soap, ceramics and other industries  in the Punjab and the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP). 
  
  There was also an attempt to blow up the pipeline supplying water to the gas industry in the area. Before this incident, electricity supply was disrupted when unidentified elements pulled out 20 electricitypoles and electrical wire from 300 poles in Goth Mazari, disconnecting electricity supply to Dera Bugti andSui in Balochistan.
  
  
• On January 22, 2003, another gas pipeline in the Sui area of Balochistan was blown up  byunidentified elements, partially cutting off the gas supply to some areas of Sindh and Balochistan.

Commenting on the incidents, an editorial in the News, the prestigious Pakistani daily, said onJanuary 23, 2003: "It may only be a coincidence that the terrorists struck when Prime Minister MirZafarullah Khan Jamali and American Ambassador Nancy Powell were meeting in Quetta to re-stress the resolve tofight terrorism.  Ambassador Powell had also delivered hardware to the Frontier Corps for the protectionof the western border.  Nonetheless, even if a coincidence, the latest terrorist strike brings into starkrelief the internal insecurity that threatens vital national installations at a time when much of theattention is focused on fighting terrorists as defined by the USA."

(The writer is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat,Govt. of India, and , presently,Director, Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai, and, Convenor, Advisory Committee, Observer ResearchFoundation (ORF), Chennai Chapter)