BUGTI INTERRED, FAMILY IGNORED, BALOCHISTAN QUIET

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ISLAMABAD 017594

SIPDIS

NOFORN
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/05/2016
TAGS: PK PREL PGOV KTER PINR
SUBJECT: BUGTI INTERRED, FAMILY IGNORED, BALOCHISTAN QUIET
BUT SEETHING

REF: A. ISLAMABAD 16944


B. ISLAMABAD 17044

C. ISLAMABAD 17255

D. ISLAMABAD 17547

Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Peter W. Bodde,
Reason: 1.4 (B) and (D)


1. (U) Protests over the August 26 death of Bugti tribal
leader Nawab Bugti (refs A,B, and C) continued over the
weekend. On August 31, the government announced that it had
retrieved Bugti's remains from the cave in which he was
killed. Its decision to bury the body rather than to return
the remains to the family resulted in additional calls for
demonstrations on September 3 and 6. The September 3
demonstrations were limited almost exclusively to
Balochistan.


2. (U) On September 1, the Dera Bugti District Coordination
Officer and a few members of the newly-formed anti-Nawab
Bugti jirga (Ref D) buried Nawab Bugti,s remains in the
family plot, but without the blessing or participation of the
Bugti family. The family, which had demanded to be given
custody of the remains, wanted to hold the funeral in
Balochistan's capital Quetta, center of the protest over his
death. Pakistan Muslim League (PML) leaders Chaudhry Shujaat
Hussain and Mushahid Hussein were quoted in many papers as
regretting that they had failed to ensure that the remains
were respectfully returned to the Bugti family.


3. (C) Calls by opposition parties and Baloch nationalists
for a nationwide "shutter strike" on September 1 received a
mixed response, with greater participation in Balochistan and
Sindh than in the rest of Pakistan. A heavy security
presence in major cities ensured that most demonstrations
were peaceful; on balance, the strike failed to whip up
public passions as the opposition has hoped. One member of
Jamaat Islami's (JI) youth wing Shabbab-e-Milli lamented to
post that the GOP had sidestepped the Muttahida
Majlis-e-Amal,s (MMA) trap by not/not ordering mass arrests
of MMA and other protest leaders. Another contact opined
that the nationwide strike call was a waste of time, saying
that in areas outside of Balochistan, "those who came out
were the usual Jumna (Friday prayer) crowd which is always
available to the mullahs." On September 3, anti-government
protests were limited to Balochistan, with approximately
5,000 demonstrators in Quetta and 5,000 others across the
province.


4. (U) Following the September 3 demonstrations ended, six
violent incidents occurred, including a grenade attack in
Quetta; an attack upon a natural gas pipeline near Mastung;
an improvised explosive device near a government office in
Gwadar and a rocket fired at a Frontier Corps post in
Khudzar. The grenade attack resulted in six injuries.
Organizers had requested no violence during the
demonstrations.

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POLITICAL SHAKE-UP?
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5. (SBU) In Quetta, the Balochistan National Party (BNP)
announced it had resigned its seats in the Senate, National
Assembly, Balochistan Assembly and district assemblies. The
party said it would no longer participate in elections or
support the current government. (NOTE: The BNP currently
holds one Senate, one National Assembly and two provincial
assembly seats. END NOTE) Other Baloch parties were
discussing whether to follow the BNP's lead. The MMA, which
holds 28 of the 65 seats in the Balochistan Assembly, will
decide whether to resign its seats on September 5; most
observers believe the MMA will opt to remain at the table.
The two members of the BNP-Mengal faction quit the

ISLAMABAD 00017594 002 OF 002


Balochistan Assembly, but their sole senator is not expected
to resign from the National Assembly.

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THE GOVERNMENT RESPONDS
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6. (SBU) In an effort to reverse the anti-government media
spin, Minister of Information Ali Durrani described Bugti,
Khair Baksh Marri and Ataulla Mengal (other prominent and
rebellious Baloch tribal sardars) as having "an outlook of
terrorists." Durrani detailed a long charge sheet containing
a range of crimes reportedly committed by all three leaders.
Separately, Balochistan Governor Owais Ghani described the
arsenal the government reportedly recovered in Bugti,s cave
hideaway as including multi-barrel rocket launchers, 75 mm
recoilless rifles, 82 mm mortars and surface-to-air missiles,
all from the former Soviet Union, and channeled through
Afghanistan and possibly India, according the Governor.

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COMMENT
--------------


7. (C) GOP and military officials did themselves no favors
by failing to reach an accommodation with Bugti,s survivors
to return the Nawab,s remains for a family burial. Instead,
the GOP,s insensitivity to the family's wishes and tribal
traditions has prolonged anti-government criticism and
spawned a new generation of conspiracy theories. Some media
questioned the military's ability to quickly recover its
soldiers' remains while requiring four additional days to
recover the body of the Nawab. Others suggested that photos
of the Nawab's undamaged watch and eyeglasses -- prominently
displayed by government officials as proof of his death )
actually suggested that that he was not killed by the cave,s
collapse, but was shot at close range or killed in a gas
attack. Even if the accusations against Bugti and the rebel
sardars in Information Minister Durrani,s &charge sheet8
are on the mark, there is little chance of them sticking in
the current media climate. END COMMENT.


8. (U) Consulate Karachi contributed to this report.
BODDE