| Submit your comments on this article |
| Afghanistan/South Asia |
| Baloch's getting riled up |
| 2004-09-19 |
| EFL Hundreds of Marri Baloch tribesmen, armed to the teeth, took up position on the Kohlu mountains, one of Pakistan's most backward, but oil and gas rich areas, to challenge the government's policies in Balochistan. The tribesmen, who call themselves "guerillas" waging a war for the rights of the Baloch population, were armed with Russian Kalashnikovs, heavy machine and anti-aircraft guns and RPGs, picked up in Afghanistan during their 14 years in self-exile. Most of them are educated with military/guerilla training received in Afghanistan. Their chieftain, Nawab Khair Bakhsh Marri, who was in self-exile, called his tribesmen to leave their homes and join him in Afghanistan in 1980. More than 12,000 Marris responded to their leader's call and left Pakistan to settle in the Afghan provinces of Kandahar and Helmand. Note, the Baluch's don't follow an Islamist ideology, but instead have leftist and tribal motives. Remember Afghanistan was ruled by the Communists during the eighties. Until the eighties, Baluchistan and the NWFP had a significant presence from leftists, which was a primary motivator for the Saudis and Pakistanis to support radical madrassas in those provinces. Similar to the way the Muslim Brotherhood was supported by the Gulf states to undermine the radical pro-Soviet Arab states like Nasser's Egypt and Assad's Syria. According to political analysts, Nawab Khair Bakhsh Marri, who believes that the Baloch cannot get their political and economic rights without an armed struggle, called his tribesmen to Afghanistan to train them in guerilla warfare. The Marri guerillas are currently lead by Nawabzada Balach Marri, the son of the ailing Nawab Khair Bakhsh Marri. Balach, an electronics engineer from Moscow, won the provincial assembly seat from Kohlu with record votes of over 18,000 - the highest ever cast in the constituency - despite all efforts by the administration to support his rival candidate, Mir Mohabat Khan Marri, the then provincial caretaker minister. After a sudden increase in the Marri tribes militant's actions in 2000, other militant groups also joined them to carry out joint actions across the province. Rockets attacks on F.C. posts, landmine and dynamite explosions against F.C. personnel were witnessed in the neighbouring Dera Bugti tribal agency. Similar attacks were also launched in Kalat, Dalbundeen, Khuzdar, Gwadar, and other areas by the militants in a show of strength. |
| Posted by:Paul Moloney |
| #4 #1 They presumably listen to the BBC's radio service which broadcasts in regional languages that no other major news network does. #3 They seek an independent Baluchistan, possibly including the Baluch areas of Iran and Afghanistan. In once sense the Baluch's are like the Kurds of South Asia, except they have never had the opportunity to move out of tribalism into any sort of democratic experiment. |
| Posted by: Paul Moloney 2004-09-19 6:53:44 PM |
| #3 So, for right now they are opposed to Pak policies on their adopted turf. Any chance that they have inclinations to return to Afghanistan in all of their secular glory? Where are they headed? |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2004-09-19 11:45:15 AM |
| #2 They should be careful. People who listen to the BBC too much soon start talking in a hot-potato-in- the-mouth British accent and sprinkle every second sentence with 'ums' and 'ahs'. And, of course, never mention the word 'terrorist'. |
| Posted by: Bryan 2004-09-19 9:15:58 AM |
| #1 The militants, equipped with modern communication gadgets, apart from physical training, spend their time discussing possible government military actions, reading newspapers and listening to the BBC every night to keep up with public and political reactions and government policies. Well, if THAT'S not an endorsement of the BBC's position, then I wouldn't know what an endorsement is... |
| Posted by: Ptah 2004-09-19 8:46:19 AM |