Baloch Insurgency and Rahimuddin's Stabilization
Encyclopedia
The 1970s military operation in Balochistan was a a five-year conflict in which a separatist movement in Balochistan
, the largest province
of Pakistan
, engaged with the Pakistan Army
after then-Prime Minister
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto
ordered a military operation
in the region in 1973. The movement, initiated by Baloch nationalists in the aftermath of the secession
of East Pakistan
, had been fuelled by Bhutto's dissolution of successive provincial governments. It was largely coordinated by the Baloch sardar
s, or tribal chiefs, against Bhutto's operation, which was led by General Tikka Khan
and aided by Iran. The conflict led to unrecorded civilian casualties, as well as heavy losses for the insurgency, until July 1977, when the Bhutto government was deposed by General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq
.
The incoming martial law administrator
, Lieutenant General Rahimuddin Khan
, declared an amnesty
and oversaw a complete military withdrawal in 1978, by which time he assumed the province's governorship
. He then embarked on an ambitious series of development policies and bloodless military action that broke the insurgency, and is also credited to have led to the province's stabilization. This period forms a pivotal chapter in the longstanding Balochistan conflict
.
The 1971 Indo-Pakistani War had ended with the defeat of Pakistan
at the hands of India.East Pakistan
declared itself to be independent
. It became a new sovereign state
called Bangladesh
, to be ruled by Bengali
leader Shaikh Mujibur Rahman. Mujib had been a major personality in the events that had led to the war, having called for greater provincial autonomy and rights for what was then East Pakistan, only to be met with utter disapproval by the then military ruler Yahya Khan
and his West Pakistan-based political opponent Zulfikar Ali Bhutto
. Despite Mujib's having won the federal elections of 1970, both Yahya and Bhutto refused to let Mujib form the central government
. The ensuing unrest gradually deteriorated into civil war
, and ultimately the secession
of Bangladesh after the India-Pakistan War of 1971. India also played a large part in the independence of Bangladesh by arming and financing the separatist group Mukti Bahini which rebelled against the Pakistani State after the injustice done to the then East Pakistan. Massive genocide and crimes such as rapes and assaults were reportedly done by Pakistani troops stationed at East Pakistan. Most importantly, India sent its troops into East Pakistan to aid the Bengali separatists in suppressing the Pakistan army.
This would greatly influence Balochistan's leading political party
, the National Awami Party. Led by ethnic nationalists and feudal leaders such as Sardar Ataullah Mengal
and Khan Wali Khan
, the party dominated the province due to a the large amount of individual political influence its leaders held. Emboldened by the secession of Bangladesh, the party demanded greater autonomy
from Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, who had become the new President of Pakistan
following his predecessor Yahya Khan's resignation
in December 1971, in return for a consensual agreement on Bhutto's Pakistan Constitution of 1973.Bhutto, however, refused to negotiate on any terms ,that might have involved a reduction in his powers, with chief minister Ataullah Mengal
in Quetta
and Mufti Mahmud
in Peshawar
. The already significant civil unrest now turned volatile as tensions between the NAP and Bhutto erupted.
to Pakistan since Bangladesh's secession, now began. Surveying the political instability, Bhutto's central government
sacked two provincial governments within six months, arrested the two chief ministers, two governors and forty-four MNAs and MPAs, obtained an order from the Supreme Court
banning the NAP and charged everyone with high treason to be tried by a specially constituted Hyderabad Tribunal of handpicked judges. Following the alleged discovery of Iraqi arms in Islamabad in February 1973, Bhutto dissolved the Balochistan Provincial Assembly and infuriated Balochistan's political oligarchs.
In time, the nationalist insurgency
, which had been steadily gathering steam, now exploded into action, with widespread civil disobedience
and armed uprisings. Bhutto now sent in the army to maintain order and crush the insurgency. This essentially pitted the ethno-separatists against the capital Islamabad
. As casualties rose, the insurgency became a full-fledged armed struggle against the Pakistan Army
. The sporadic fighting between the insurgency
and the army started in 1973 with the largest confrontation taking place in September 1974 when around 15,000 ethno-separatists fought the Pakistani Army and the Air Force. Sensing the seriousness of the conflict, Pakistan Navy dispatched its logistic units under the command of Vice-Admiral Patrick Simpson—Commander of the Southern Naval Command—provided its logistic and intelligence support to Army and Air Force from the Sea. The Navy had applied an effective naval blockade in Balochistan's water and stopped the illegal arm trade and aid to Baloch rebel groups. In a separate naval operations led by navy, the navy had seized and destroyed vessels that were trying to aid the Baloch rebel groups. The Iranian military, fearing a spread of the greater ethnic resistance in Iran, also aided the Pakistani military. Among Iran's contribution were 30 Huey cobra attack helicopters and $200 million in aid.
The Pakistan government declared its belief in covert Indian intervention just like the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation.However India claimed that it was fearful of further balkanization
of the subcontinent after Bangladesh and stated it had not interfered. After three days of fighting the separatists were running out of ammunition
and so withdrew by 1976.
The army had suffered more than 3,000 casualties in the fight while the rebels lost 5,000 people as of 1977.
caused splinter groups to form and steadily gain momentum. Despite the overthrow of the Bhutto government, calls for secession
and widespread civil disobedience
remained. The military government
then appointed General Rahimuddin Khan
as Martial Law Administrator of Balochistan
as well as Governor. Rahimuddin's immediate steps were to implement a general amnesty
for belligerents willing to give up arms. He oversaw military withdrawal
thereafter. Rahimuddin then pointedly isolated the more prominent feudal figures of Balochistan from interfering in provincial affairs. Defusing their influence, coupled with authoritarian government, caused the Baloch separatist movement
to grind to a virtual standstill. Prominent tribal sardars Ataullah Mengal
and Khair Bakhsh Marri left the province for foreign countries, whereas Akbar Bugti aborted his separatist activities. No effective protests, civil disobedience
or anti-government movements took place throughout Rahimuddin's rule.
Governor Rahimuddin's tenure also ushered in sustained development. Following the Soviet invasion
of neighboring Afghanistan
in 1979, Rahimuddin used the resultant foreign attention on Balochistan by introducing an externally financed development programme for the area. Forty million dollars (USD) were committed to the programme by the end of 1987, by which time Rahimuddin had resigned. He expedited the regulation of Pakistan Petroleum Limited
, the exploration company charged with the Sui gas field
. He consolidated the then-contentious integration of Gwadar
into Balochistan, which had earlier been notified as a district in 1977. Addressing the province's literacy rate, the lowest in the country for both males and females, he administered the freeing up of resources towards education, created girls' incentive programs, and had several girls' schools built in the Dera Bugti District
. As part of his infrastructure schemes, he also forced his way in extending electricity to vast areas with subsoil
water.
Tensions have resurfaced recently in the province
with the Pakistan Army
being involved in attacks against a terrorist organisation known as the Balochistan Liberation Army
. Attempted uprisings have taken place as recently as 2006.
Balochistan (Pakistan)
Balochistan is one of the four provinces or federating units of Pakistan. With an area of 134,051 mi2 or , it is the largest province of Pakistan, constituting approximately 44% of the total land mass of Pakistan. According to the 1998 population census, Balochistan had a population of...
, the largest province
Province
A province is a territorial unit, almost always an administrative division, within a country or state.-Etymology:The English word "province" is attested since about 1330 and derives from the 13th-century Old French "province," which itself comes from the Latin word "provincia," which referred to...
of Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
, engaged with the Pakistan Army
Pakistan Army
The Pakistan Army is the branch of the Pakistani Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. The Pakistan Army came into existence after the Partition of India and the resulting independence of Pakistan in 1947. It is currently headed by General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani. The Pakistan...
after then-Prime Minister
Prime Minister of Pakistan
The Prime Minister of Pakistan , is the Head of Government of Pakistan who is designated to exercise as the country's Chief Executive. By the Constitution of Pakistan, Pakistan has the parliamentary democratic system of government...
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was 9th Prime Minister of Pakistan from 1973 to 1977, and prior to that, 4th President of Pakistan from 1971 to 1973. Bhutto was the founder of the Pakistan Peoples Party — the largest and most influential political party in Pakistan— and served as its chairman until his...
ordered a military operation
Military operation
Military operation is the coordinated military actions of a state in response to a developing situation. These actions are designed as a military plan to resolve the situation in the state's favor. Operations may be of combat or non-combat types, and are referred to by a code name for the purpose...
in the region in 1973. The movement, initiated by Baloch nationalists in the aftermath of the secession
Bangladesh Liberation War
The Bangladesh Liberation War was an armed conflict pitting East Pakistan and India against West Pakistan. The war resulted in the secession of East Pakistan, which became the independent nation of Bangladesh....
of East Pakistan
East Pakistan
East Pakistan was a provincial state of Pakistan established in 14 August 1947. The provincial state existed until its declaration of independence on 26 March 1971 as the independent nation of Bangladesh. Pakistan recognized the new nation on 16 December 1971. East Pakistan was created from Bengal...
, had been fuelled by Bhutto's dissolution of successive provincial governments. It was largely coordinated by the Baloch sardar
Sardar
Sardar is a title of Indo-Aryan origin that was originally used to denote feudal princes, noblemen, and other aristocrats. It was later applied to indicate a Head of State, a Commander-in-chief, and an Army military rank...
s, or tribal chiefs, against Bhutto's operation, which was led by General Tikka Khan
Tikka Khan
General Tikka Khan, HJ, HQA, SPk, was a senior four-star general in the Pakistan Army who served as the first Chief of Army Staff of the Pakistan Army from 3 March 1972 to 1 March 1976. Before his four-star assignment, Khan was a Martial Law Administrator of erstwhile East-Pakistan...
and aided by Iran. The conflict led to unrecorded civilian casualties, as well as heavy losses for the insurgency, until July 1977, when the Bhutto government was deposed by General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq
Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq
General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq , was the 4th Chief Martial Law Administrator and the sixth President of Pakistan from July 1977 to his death in August 1988...
.
The incoming martial law administrator
Martial Law Administrator of Balochistan
The Martial Law Administrator of Balochistan was the head of the military regime of Balochistan, the largest province of Pakistan. The capacity was first established when martial law was imposed by General Yahya Khan, who appointed Riaz Hussain to the post, but was never officially ratified. It...
, Lieutenant General Rahimuddin Khan
Rahimuddin Khan
Rahimuddin Khan Afridi is a retired four-star general of the Pakistan Army who was the fourth Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee from 1984 to 1987. He was also the longest-serving Governor and martial law administrator of Balochistan, from 1978 to when he resigned in 1984...
, declared an amnesty
Amnesty
Amnesty is a legislative or executive act by which a state restores those who may have been guilty of an offense against it to the positions of innocent people, without changing the laws defining the offense. It includes more than pardon, in as much as it obliterates all legal remembrance of the...
and oversaw a complete military withdrawal in 1978, by which time he assumed the province's governorship
Governor of Balochistan
The Governor of Balochistan is the appointed Head of State of the provincial government in Balochistan, Pakistan. The governor is designated by the Prime Minister and is normally regarded a ceremonial post...
. He then embarked on an ambitious series of development policies and bloodless military action that broke the insurgency, and is also credited to have led to the province's stabilization. This period forms a pivotal chapter in the longstanding Balochistan conflict
Balochistan conflict
The Balochistan conflict is an ongoing conflict between Baloch nationalists and the Government of Pakistan over Balochistan, the country's largest province...
.
Calls for Balochistan's independence
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
at the hands of India.East Pakistan
East Pakistan
East Pakistan was a provincial state of Pakistan established in 14 August 1947. The provincial state existed until its declaration of independence on 26 March 1971 as the independent nation of Bangladesh. Pakistan recognized the new nation on 16 December 1971. East Pakistan was created from Bengal...
declared itself to be independent
Independence
Independence is a condition of a nation, country, or state in which its residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory....
. It became a new sovereign state
Sovereign state
A sovereign state, or simply, state, is a state with a defined territory on which it exercises internal and external sovereignty, a permanent population, a government, and the capacity to enter into relations with other sovereign states. It is also normally understood to be a state which is neither...
called Bangladesh
Bangladesh
Bangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...
, to be ruled by Bengali
Bengali people
The Bengali people are an ethnic community native to the historic region of Bengal in South Asia. They speak Bengali , which is an Indo-Aryan language of the eastern Indian subcontinent, evolved from the Magadhi Prakrit and Sanskrit languages. In their native language, they are referred to as বাঙালী...
leader Shaikh Mujibur Rahman. Mujib had been a major personality in the events that had led to the war, having called for greater provincial autonomy and rights for what was then East Pakistan, only to be met with utter disapproval by the then military ruler Yahya Khan
Yahya Khan
General Agha Mohammad Yahya Khan Qizilbash, H.Pk, HJ, S.Pk, psc was the third President of Pakistan from 1969 to 1971, following the resignation of Ayub Khan...
and his West Pakistan-based political opponent Zulfikar Ali Bhutto
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was 9th Prime Minister of Pakistan from 1973 to 1977, and prior to that, 4th President of Pakistan from 1971 to 1973. Bhutto was the founder of the Pakistan Peoples Party — the largest and most influential political party in Pakistan— and served as its chairman until his...
. Despite Mujib's having won the federal elections of 1970, both Yahya and Bhutto refused to let Mujib form the central government
Central government
A central government also known as a national government, union government and in federal states, the federal government, is the government at the level of the nation-state. The structure of central governments varies from institution to institution...
. The ensuing unrest gradually deteriorated into civil war
Civil war
A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same nation state or republic, or, less commonly, between two countries created from a formerly-united nation state....
, and ultimately the secession
Secession
Secession is the act of withdrawing from an organization, union, or especially a political entity. Threats of secession also can be a strategy for achieving more limited goals.-Secession theory:...
of Bangladesh after the India-Pakistan War of 1971. India also played a large part in the independence of Bangladesh by arming and financing the separatist group Mukti Bahini which rebelled against the Pakistani State after the injustice done to the then East Pakistan. Massive genocide and crimes such as rapes and assaults were reportedly done by Pakistani troops stationed at East Pakistan. Most importantly, India sent its troops into East Pakistan to aid the Bengali separatists in suppressing the Pakistan army.
This would greatly influence Balochistan's leading political party
Political party
A political party is a political organization that typically seeks to influence government policy, usually by nominating their own candidates and trying to seat them in political office. Parties participate in electoral campaigns, educational outreach or protest actions...
, the National Awami Party. Led by ethnic nationalists and feudal leaders such as Sardar Ataullah Mengal
Ataullah Mengal
Sardar Ataullah Khan Mengal , popularly known as Sardar Ataullah Mengal, is a well-known political and feudal figure of Pakistan hailing from Balochistan. He has been campaigning a nationalist and separatist movement in Pakistan for over four decades. He is the head of the Shahizai Mangal tribe...
and Khan Wali Khan
Khan Wali Khan
Khan Abdul Wali Khan was Pakistani democratic socialist and Pashtun leader who also served as President of National Awami Party. Son of the prominent Pashtun Bacha Khan, Wali Khan was an activist and a writer against the British India like his father.His early years were marked by his involvement...
, the party dominated the province due to a the large amount of individual political influence its leaders held. Emboldened by the secession of Bangladesh, the party demanded greater autonomy
Autonomy
Autonomy is a concept found in moral, political and bioethical philosophy. Within these contexts, it is the capacity of a rational individual to make an informed, un-coerced decision...
from Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, who had become the new President of Pakistan
President of Pakistan
The President of Pakistan is the head of state, as well as figurehead, of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Recently passed an XVIII Amendment , Pakistan has a parliamentary democratic system of government. According to the Constitution, the President is chosen by the Electoral College to serve a...
following his predecessor Yahya Khan's resignation
Resignation
A resignation is the formal act of giving up or quitting one's office or position. It can also refer to the act of admitting defeat in a game like chess, indicated by the resigning player declaring "I resign", turning his king on its side, extending his hand, or stopping the chess clock...
in December 1971, in return for a consensual agreement on Bhutto's Pakistan Constitution of 1973.Bhutto, however, refused to negotiate on any terms ,that might have involved a reduction in his powers, with chief minister Ataullah Mengal
Ataullah Mengal
Sardar Ataullah Khan Mengal , popularly known as Sardar Ataullah Mengal, is a well-known political and feudal figure of Pakistan hailing from Balochistan. He has been campaigning a nationalist and separatist movement in Pakistan for over four decades. He is the head of the Shahizai Mangal tribe...
in Quetta
Quetta
is the largest city and the provincial capital of the Balochistan Province of Pakistan. Known as the "Fruit Garden of Pakistan" due to the diversity of its plant and animal wildlife, Quetta is home to the Hazarganji Chiltan National Park, which contains some of the rarest species of wildlife in the...
and Mufti Mahmud
Mufti Mahmud
Maulana Mufti Mahmud , an ethnic Marwat Pashtun hailing from Abdul Khel, was born in January 1919 in Paniala, Dera Ismail Khan District, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, province of Pakistan. He was an Islamic scholar and political activist. Maulana Fazal-ur-Rehman is his son and was the leader of opposition in...
in Peshawar
Peshawar
Peshawar is the capital of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and the administrative center and central economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan....
. The already significant civil unrest now turned volatile as tensions between the NAP and Bhutto erupted.
Bhutto launches military operation
The ethno-separatist rebellion of Balochistan,of the 1970s, the most threatening civil disorderCivil disorder
Civil disorder, also known as civil unrest or civil strife, is a broad term that is typically used by law enforcement to describe one or more forms of disturbance caused by a group of people. Civil disturbance is typically a symptom of, and a form of protest against, major socio-political problems;...
to Pakistan since Bangladesh's secession, now began. Surveying the political instability, Bhutto's central government
Central government
A central government also known as a national government, union government and in federal states, the federal government, is the government at the level of the nation-state. The structure of central governments varies from institution to institution...
sacked two provincial governments within six months, arrested the two chief ministers, two governors and forty-four MNAs and MPAs, obtained an order from the Supreme Court
Supreme court
A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of many legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, instance court, judgment court, high court, or apex court...
banning the NAP and charged everyone with high treason to be tried by a specially constituted Hyderabad Tribunal of handpicked judges. Following the alleged discovery of Iraqi arms in Islamabad in February 1973, Bhutto dissolved the Balochistan Provincial Assembly and infuriated Balochistan's political oligarchs.
In time, the nationalist insurgency
Insurgency
An insurgency is an armed rebellion against a constituted authority when those taking part in the rebellion are not recognized as belligerents...
, which had been steadily gathering steam, now exploded into action, with widespread civil disobedience
Civil disobedience
Civil disobedience is the active, professed refusal to obey certain laws, demands, and commands of a government, or of an occupying international power. Civil disobedience is commonly, though not always, defined as being nonviolent resistance. It is one form of civil resistance...
and armed uprisings. Bhutto now sent in the army to maintain order and crush the insurgency. This essentially pitted the ethno-separatists against the capital Islamabad
Islamabad
Islamabad is the capital of Pakistan and the tenth largest city in the country. Located within the Islamabad Capital Territory , the population of the city has grown from 100,000 in 1951 to 1.7 million in 2011...
. As casualties rose, the insurgency became a full-fledged armed struggle against the Pakistan Army
Pakistan Army
The Pakistan Army is the branch of the Pakistani Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. The Pakistan Army came into existence after the Partition of India and the resulting independence of Pakistan in 1947. It is currently headed by General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani. The Pakistan...
. The sporadic fighting between the insurgency
Insurgency
An insurgency is an armed rebellion against a constituted authority when those taking part in the rebellion are not recognized as belligerents...
and the army started in 1973 with the largest confrontation taking place in September 1974 when around 15,000 ethno-separatists fought the Pakistani Army and the Air Force. Sensing the seriousness of the conflict, Pakistan Navy dispatched its logistic units under the command of Vice-Admiral Patrick Simpson—Commander of the Southern Naval Command—provided its logistic and intelligence support to Army and Air Force from the Sea. The Navy had applied an effective naval blockade in Balochistan's water and stopped the illegal arm trade and aid to Baloch rebel groups. In a separate naval operations led by navy, the navy had seized and destroyed vessels that were trying to aid the Baloch rebel groups. The Iranian military, fearing a spread of the greater ethnic resistance in Iran, also aided the Pakistani military. Among Iran's contribution were 30 Huey cobra attack helicopters and $200 million in aid.
The Pakistan government declared its belief in covert Indian intervention just like the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation.However India claimed that it was fearful of further balkanization
Balkanization
Balkanization, or Balkanisation, is a geopolitical term, originally used to describe the process of fragmentation or division of a region or state into smaller regions or states that are often hostile or non-cooperative with each other, and it is considered pejorative.The term refers to the...
of the subcontinent after Bangladesh and stated it had not interfered. After three days of fighting the separatists were running out of ammunition
Ammunition
Ammunition is a generic term derived from the French language la munition which embraced all material used for war , but which in time came to refer specifically to gunpowder and artillery. The collective term for all types of ammunition is munitions...
and so withdrew by 1976.
The army had suffered more than 3,000 casualties in the fight while the rebels lost 5,000 people as of 1977.
Rahimuddin's stabilization
Although major fighting had broken down, ideological schismsSchism (religion)
A schism , from Greek σχίσμα, skhísma , is a division between people, usually belonging to an organization or movement religious denomination. The word is most frequently applied to a break of communion between two sections of Christianity that were previously a single body, or to a division within...
caused splinter groups to form and steadily gain momentum. Despite the overthrow of the Bhutto government, calls for secession
Secession
Secession is the act of withdrawing from an organization, union, or especially a political entity. Threats of secession also can be a strategy for achieving more limited goals.-Secession theory:...
and widespread civil disobedience
Civil disobedience
Civil disobedience is the active, professed refusal to obey certain laws, demands, and commands of a government, or of an occupying international power. Civil disobedience is commonly, though not always, defined as being nonviolent resistance. It is one form of civil resistance...
remained. The military government
Military government
Military government can refer to conditions under either Military occupation, or Military dictatorship.-Military Government:Military government is the form of administration by which an occupying power exercises governmental authority over occupied territory.The Hague Conventions of 1907 specify...
then appointed General Rahimuddin Khan
Rahimuddin Khan
Rahimuddin Khan Afridi is a retired four-star general of the Pakistan Army who was the fourth Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee from 1984 to 1987. He was also the longest-serving Governor and martial law administrator of Balochistan, from 1978 to when he resigned in 1984...
as Martial Law Administrator of Balochistan
Martial Law Administrator of Balochistan
The Martial Law Administrator of Balochistan was the head of the military regime of Balochistan, the largest province of Pakistan. The capacity was first established when martial law was imposed by General Yahya Khan, who appointed Riaz Hussain to the post, but was never officially ratified. It...
as well as Governor. Rahimuddin's immediate steps were to implement a general amnesty
Amnesty
Amnesty is a legislative or executive act by which a state restores those who may have been guilty of an offense against it to the positions of innocent people, without changing the laws defining the offense. It includes more than pardon, in as much as it obliterates all legal remembrance of the...
for belligerents willing to give up arms. He oversaw military withdrawal
Withdrawal (military)
A withdrawal is a type of military operation, generally meaning retreating forces back while maintaining contact with the enemy. A withdrawal may be undertaken as part of a general retreat, to consolidate forces, to occupy ground that is more easily defended, or to lead the enemy into an ambush...
thereafter. Rahimuddin then pointedly isolated the more prominent feudal figures of Balochistan from interfering in provincial affairs. Defusing their influence, coupled with authoritarian government, caused the Baloch separatist movement
Baloch nationalism
Baloch nationalism is a movement which claims that the Baloch people, an ethno-linguistic group mainly found in Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan are a nation...
to grind to a virtual standstill. Prominent tribal sardars Ataullah Mengal
Ataullah Mengal
Sardar Ataullah Khan Mengal , popularly known as Sardar Ataullah Mengal, is a well-known political and feudal figure of Pakistan hailing from Balochistan. He has been campaigning a nationalist and separatist movement in Pakistan for over four decades. He is the head of the Shahizai Mangal tribe...
and Khair Bakhsh Marri left the province for foreign countries, whereas Akbar Bugti aborted his separatist activities. No effective protests, civil disobedience
Civil disobedience
Civil disobedience is the active, professed refusal to obey certain laws, demands, and commands of a government, or of an occupying international power. Civil disobedience is commonly, though not always, defined as being nonviolent resistance. It is one form of civil resistance...
or anti-government movements took place throughout Rahimuddin's rule.
Governor Rahimuddin's tenure also ushered in sustained development. Following the Soviet invasion
Soviet war in Afghanistan
The Soviet war in Afghanistan was a nine-year conflict involving the Soviet Union, supporting the Marxist-Leninist government of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan against the Afghan Mujahideen and foreign "Arab–Afghan" volunteers...
of neighboring Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
in 1979, Rahimuddin used the resultant foreign attention on Balochistan by introducing an externally financed development programme for the area. Forty million dollars (USD) were committed to the programme by the end of 1987, by which time Rahimuddin had resigned. He expedited the regulation of Pakistan Petroleum Limited
Pakistan Petroleum Limited
Pakistan Petroleum Limited is a Pakistan based oil company, it was incorporated June 5, 1950, when it inherited the assets and liabilities of the Burmah Oil Company Ltd. which initially holds 70% of the share with the rest mostly held by the Government of Pakistan...
, the exploration company charged with the Sui gas field
Sui gas field
Sui gas field is the biggest natural gas field in Pakistan. It is located near Sui in Balochistan. The gas field was discovered in the late 1952 and the commercial exploitation of the field began in 1955....
. He consolidated the then-contentious integration of Gwadar
Gwadar
Gwadar also known as Godar is a developing port city on the southwestern Arabian Sea coast of Pakistan. It is the district headquarters of Gwadar District in Balochistan province and has a population of approximately 50,000.Gwadar is strategically located at the apex of the Arabian Sea and at the...
into Balochistan, which had earlier been notified as a district in 1977. Addressing the province's literacy rate, the lowest in the country for both males and females, he administered the freeing up of resources towards education, created girls' incentive programs, and had several girls' schools built in the Dera Bugti District
Dera Bugti District
Dera Bugti is a district located in the south west of Balochistan province of Pakistan. Dera Bugti is named after its headquarter town 'Dera Bugti'. Dera means `abode' or `habitat', while `Bugti' is the name of the major Baloch tribe. Thus Dera Bugti means the abode of the Bugtis, the dominant...
. As part of his infrastructure schemes, he also forced his way in extending electricity to vast areas with subsoil
Subsoil
Subsoil, or substrata, is the layer of soil under the topsoil on the surface of the ground. The subsoil may include substances such as clay and/or sand that has only been partially broken down by air, sunlight, water, wind etc., to produce true soil...
water.
Tensions have resurfaced recently in the province
Balochistan (Pakistan)
Balochistan is one of the four provinces or federating units of Pakistan. With an area of 134,051 mi2 or , it is the largest province of Pakistan, constituting approximately 44% of the total land mass of Pakistan. According to the 1998 population census, Balochistan had a population of...
with the Pakistan Army
Pakistan Army
The Pakistan Army is the branch of the Pakistani Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. The Pakistan Army came into existence after the Partition of India and the resulting independence of Pakistan in 1947. It is currently headed by General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani. The Pakistan...
being involved in attacks against a terrorist organisation known as the Balochistan Liberation Army
Balochistan Liberation Army
The Balochistan Liberation Army is a terrorist group based in Balochistan, a mountainous region within southern Iran and Pakistan. The organization is a participant in the Balochistan conflict and strives to establish an independent state of Balochistan, free of Pakistani and Iranian rule...
. Attempted uprisings have taken place as recently as 2006.