Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06ISLAMABAD16944
2006-08-28 12:07:00
CONFIDENTIAL//NOFORN
Embassy Islamabad
Cable title:  

DEATH OF NAWAB BUGTI, BALOCH TRIBAL INSURGENT

Tags:  PK PREL PGOV KTER 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO2755
OO RUEHDBU RUEHLH RUEHPW
DE RUEHIL #6944/01 2401207
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O 281207Z AUG 06
FM AMEMBASSY ISLAMABAD
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 8859
INFO RUEHTA/AMEMBASSY ALMATY PRIORITY 9557
RUEHAH/AMEMBASSY ASHGABAT PRIORITY 1037
RUEHEK/AMEMBASSY BISHKEK PRIORITY 3761
RUEHLM/AMEMBASSY COLOMBO PRIORITY 0867
RUEHKA/AMEMBASSY DHAKA PRIORITY 1596
RUEHDBU/AMEMBASSY DUSHANBE PRIORITY
RUEHBUL/AMEMBASSY KABUL PRIORITY 6039
RUEHKT/AMEMBASSY KATHMANDU PRIORITY 6973
RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI PRIORITY 9147
RUEHNT/AMEMBASSY TASHKENT PRIORITY 1721
RUEHKP/AMCONSUL KARACHI PRIORITY 2522
RUEHLH/AMCONSUL LAHORE PRIORITY 9918
RUEHPW/AMCONSUL PESHAWAR PRIORITY 7917
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ISLAMABAD 016944 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS
NOFORN

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/19/2015
TAGS: PK PREL PGOV KTER
SUBJECT: DEATH OF NAWAB BUGTI, BALOCH TRIBAL INSURGENT
LEADER

Classified By: Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker, Derived from DSCG 05-01, d

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ISLAMABAD 016944

SIPDIS

SIPDIS
NOFORN

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/19/2015
TAGS: PK PREL PGOV KTER
SUBJECT: DEATH OF NAWAB BUGTI, BALOCH TRIBAL INSURGENT
LEADER

Classified By: Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker, Derived from DSCG 05-01, d


1. (C) Summary: The killing of Baloch tribal insurgent leader
Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti by security forces on Saturday has
dismayed politicians across the political spectrum, including
members of the party that President Musharraf relies on to
run the country, and triggered riots in a limited number of
cities in Balochistan. Government politicians are now playing
down the initial military triumphalism at the death of Nawab
Bugti. The people of Balochistan had an ambivalent
relationship with Nawab Bugti: some saw him as a great
nationalist leader fighting for the province's economic
rights, others saw him as a self-serving tribal lord whose
violent tactics against the economic infrastructure hurt the
people of the province, not just the central government. End
summary.

--------------
How He Died
--------------


2. (U) There are conflicting stories about how Nawab Bugti
was tracked down. Some press reports say that the security
forces located him through a satellite telephone call.
However, the government has stated that an attack on an Army
helicopter on August 23 led security forces to launch an
operation the next day that eventually led to the assault on
the cave in which Bugti was hiding on Saturday. As many as 27
government security forces and 60 militants were killed in
the attack, according to press reports. The assault was
described as a "commando" operation involving officers from
the Pakistan Army's elite Special Services Group. The
government asserts that its forces came under heavy fire from
the cave and when they returned fire and attempted to enter
it, the roof collapsed, killing all inside, including a
number of soldiers and officers. Nawab Bugti's presence in
the cave was confirmed by captured militants, according to
the government. Tikka Khan, editor of the Urdu-daily Islam,
told Embassy that if the Nawab was located by satellite phone
it proves the government was specifically searching for him
and makes his killing a deliberate criminal act.


3. (U) The start of the operation against Nawab Bugti on

August 24 coincided with what was described as a "first-ever"
Bugti tribal jirga, attended by thousands of
government-allied tribesmen at which they, in essence,
deposed Nawab Bugti by declaring the "end to the Nawabi
system" and pledging their support to the government.


4. (U) Initially, there were reports that two of Nawab
Bugti's grandsons, including his heir-apparent Brahamdagh,
were also in the cave, along with Mir Balaach Khan Marri, son
of Marri tribal leader Nawab Khair Bux Marri. However,
President Musharraf and the government spokesman would not
confirm whether Nawab Bugti's grandsons or Balaach Marri died
in the attack. Agha Shahid Bugti, the Nawab's son-in-law,
also refused to confirm whether the grandsons survived or
were killed in the operation, according to one press report.
A separate press report stated that one of Nawab Bugti's
grandsons was captured; a spokesman for the Marri tribe said
that Balaach Marri and both Bugti grandsons were alive. As of
Monday, bodies were still being dug out of the cave rubble.


5. (U) Nawab Bugti, who was reportedly 79, was both a former
provincial governor and chief minister. In 1946, Nawab Bugti
took over leadership of the Bugti tribe (Nawab is a title
meaning prince),which is currently estimated as having
200,000 members and a militia of 5,000 fighters. Since early
2005, he had led his tribe's armed resistance to the
government. In recent months, the government security forces,
led by Frontier Corps troops backed by Army helicopters and
artillery, had driven Bugti into hiding in the mountains.

--------------

ISLAMABAD 00016944 002 OF 002


Crowing Soldiers, Sober Politicians
--------------


6. (C) In the aftermath of Nawab Bugti death, General
Musharraf said that the government would take "every step"
necessary to extend its writ into Balochistan. The tone of
the initial news reports was of a military success. But the
tenor changed as opposition politicians, including those from
beyond Balochistan, began criticizing the killing.
Journalists and nationalist politicians within Balochistan,
including politicians opposed to the sardari system, told
Embassy that the Nawab's death would be a rallying point for
opponents of the government and could lead to increased
violence against Punjabis in the province. (Note: The federal
government and Army are seen as being dominated by Punjab
Province. End note.)


7. (C) Even top leaders in the governing PML-Q were
circumspect in their comments about Nawab Bugti's death.
Senator Mushahid Hussain, PML-Q General Secretary, told
Polcouns that Nawab Bugti's death was regrettable and
avoidable. Mushahid and PML-Q President Chaudhry Shujaat
Hussain have arranged for the Army to transport two of Nawab
Bugti's sons to the cave site where he died, so that they can
oversee the recovery of the body, which will be turned over
to the family for burial in Dera Bugti.


8. (U) Newspaper editorials called for the end of military
action and the start of negotiations to resolve the
province's grievances, which stem from the belief that
Islamabad has not given the province a fair share of the
revenues generated by its mineral wealth or an adequate share
of the jobs in ongoing development projects in the province.
Mushahid Hussain said the death creates the opportunity to
revisit the recommendations of a committee he led last year
that called for increasing economic opportunities in
Balochistan, investing in social infrastructure, limiting
settler influence in elections, and increasing provincial
autonomy and control over natural gas revenues.


9. (U) Nawab Bugti's death sparked protests and riots in
Quetta, Balochistan's capital, and other cities, in which at
least three people were killed and 50 injured. In Quetta
roughly 600 protesters were arrested. On Monday, Quetta
experienced a citywide strike, with roads empty and most
shops closed. In addition, the main highways from Quetta to
Karachi and Punjab Province were also blocked by protesters.


10. (C) Comment: The unrest triggered by Nawab Bugti's death
has been confined, so far, to just five of Balochistan's 27
districts, with disturbances, however, also occurring in
Karachi in Sindh Province. Crowds in Quetta were violent but
not exceedingly large by Pakistani standards. One Embassy
interlocutor said the size of the crowds was limited because
people have known for months that the security forces where
closing in on Nawab Bugti. Notably, members of Musharraf's
ruling party are now emphasizing that Nawab Bugti died
because the roof of the cave collapsed, as opposed to being
killed directly by government troops. PML-Q leaders may be
downplaying the military success because the party faces a no
confidence vote in the National Assembly later this week. If
Brahamdagh Bugti, the Nawab's anointed successor, was killed,
the GOP would have eliminated the most likely leader to take
the reins of the insurgency from Nawab Bugti. End comment.
BODDE