On June 26, 2007, the India-based agency, Asian News International, reported that Nawabzada Jamil Bugti had renewed his accusation that the Pakistani government had used chemical weapons (CW) to assassinate his father, Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti. The senior Bugti, the former governor of Balochistan, was a leader in the province’s struggle for independence from Pakistan. [1] Jamil Bugti first asserted that Pakistan had used CW at a press conference several weeks after his father was killed on August 26, 2006, in a battle between Bugti tribal militants and government forces. [2] His claims echoed earlier charges by Balochi separatists that the Pakistani government had used CW against the insurgency. Jamil’s latest charge was made at a conference of Baloch leaders and intellectuals, where he criticized Pakistan’s treatment of the Balochs, claiming that thousands had been killed, injured, or abducted by the government’s secret agencies during their fight for independence. [3] He offered no specific evidence to substantiate his charges regarding CW use.

Pakistan’s Minister of State for Information, Tariq Azeem Khan, denied that security forces had used CW and said that the army would “welcome” an investigation, although there has been no report of such a probe. [4] Pakistan has signed and ratified the 1925 Geneva Protocol, which prohibits the use of poisonous gases. It is also a state party to the 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), which bans the development, production, and stockpiling of chemical weapons as well as their use, and the Islamabad government has continuously held a position in the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons’ (OPCW) Executive Council. [5]

Balochistan
Balochistan is the largest of Pakistan’s four provinces. A major supplier of natural gas, oil, and fishery resources, as well as port facilities, it has also been a major source of minerals for Pakistan. Nationalists in the province, however, claim that they have seen little gain from their region’s mineral wealth, accusing the central government of usurping Balochistan’s resources and spending a minimal amount on the province. [6] The nationalist movement in Balochistan has been in existence since the province was compelled to join Pakistan in 1947. The movement’s supporters have come into conflict with the Islamabad government on multiple occasions; these conflicts include a bloody insurgency from 1973 to 1977. [7] In recent years, the nationalist movement has grown as the friction among the leaders of the area’s three major tribes and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has increased. [8] Pakistan claims that the Baloch insurgency is sponsored by India as a response to what India considers Pakistani support for Kashmiri insurgents. [9] The Indian media has given extensive coverage to charges that the Pakistani military has relied on brute force to suppress the increasingly heated insurgency. [10]

Earlier Balochi Charges of Pakistan CW Use
The first allegations by Balochi political figures that the Pakistani government had used CW against Balochi separatists came in late December 2005. Responding on March 1, 2006, to a parliamentary question on whether Pakistan was guilty of CW use, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh noted the history of the charges, without commenting on their veracity. He stated:

It has been reported in the Pakistani media that Pakistani forces used chemical weapons in Balochistan recently.

On 24 December 2005, Senator Sanaullah Baloch of the Balochistan National Party (BNP) alleged that the army was using gas and chemicals against Balochs. On 24 December 2005, Senators belonging to the nationalist parties of Balochistan accused the military of using poison gas in Kohlu, Balochistan, and of carpet bombing civilians in the area. On 7 February 2006, Mr. Agha Shahid Hasan Bugti, Secretary-General of Jamhoori Watan Party (JWP), accused the paramilitary forces of firing chemical gas shells on civilian populations in Dera Bugti, Balochistan.

However, on 2 January 2006, the Spokesman of the Pakistan Army, Maj. Gen. Shaukat Sultan, rejected the reports that Pakistan security forces had used poisonous gas in operations in Balochistan.

… The [Indian] Government remains fully vigilant and will take all necessary steps to safeguard India’s security and national interests. [11]

Also during early 2006, the Hindustan Times reported that Sardar Akhtar Mengal, the former Chief Minister of Balochistan, charged that Pakistani forces were using CW in that province. Mengal showed pictures of civilians whom he said had been affected by chemical weapons, declaring, “You will note the blood coming out of people’s mouths without any injury to their bodies…What does this show? It shows that poisonous gases have been used in the military operation.” [12] His demands for international mediators to help resolve the tensions between Balochistan and Pakistan and his condemnation of the treatment of Baloch civilians by the Pakistani military were supported by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP). That commission, although it did not address the issue of CW specifically, said that it had concrete evidence that “action by the armed forces had led to deaths and injuries among civilians,” and it had found, contrary to Pakistan’s official statements, that armed forces were being deployed against the militants in Balochistan. [13]

Bugti Burial Raises Suspicions
Initial news accounts of Bugti’s death in August 2006 reported that Bugti was killed in a battle between rebels and government forces near the city of Dera Bugti in northeastern Balochistan. [14] The reports also mentioned that satellite phone trackers were used to find the rebel before the attack, implying that he was directly targeted and contradicting Balochistan governor Owais Ghani’s statement from a few weeks earlier that: “He [Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti] is too old to be punished. He is a respected figure. We just want him to give up arms.” [15] The Pakistani government later denied the reports of phone tracking, claiming that an army helicopter had been attacked by rebels and that the resultant battle was a simple counter-insurgency operation. The government claimed that it was during the counter-insurgency operation that the mud bunker, in which Bugti had taken shelter with his men, caved in. [16]

The Pakistani government did not recover the body for five days. This time lapse sparked rumors that Bugti had not died as a result of the bunker collapse, but rather that the government had assassinated him using CW. When his body was eventually recovered, contrary to Islamic custom, it was not handed over to Bugti’s family, but rather it was buried in a locked and sealed coffin. [17] The only person to see the body was said to be Maulana Abdul Malook Bugti, the imam of the Dera Bugti mosque, who later told Asian News International, “I am not sure whether it was Akbar Bugti’s body or not.” [18]

Conspiracy theories abounded in the days immediately after Bugti’s death. Nawabzada Hyrbair Marri, the son of a rival tribal leader, alleged that cluster bombs were used in the Dera Bugti battle. [19] However, Jamil Bugti has consistently claimed that CW were involved in his father’s assassination. Speaking for himself and his brother at their September 2006 news conference following his father’s death, he declared, “We say that chemical weapons have been used to kill Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti, and only international organizations can prove our claim.” [20] Jamil called for a postmortem examination to be performed by international human rights groups. Such an examination is not known to have taken place.

Allegations of CW Use in Other Civil Conflicts
Jamil Bugti’s allegations and those of other Balochi nationalists appear to be part of a wider trend. Over the past 15 years, possibly to draw the attention of the international community to their cause and/or to damage the reputation of the national government against which they are fighting, a number of separatist or nationalist groups have charged those governments with using CW against rebel forces or civilians. The table below describes a number of the accusations of CW use in civil conflicts over the past 15 years. [21] None of these accusations has been substantiated to date.

As the tribal chief of the largest Baloch tribe, Nawab Bugti played a major role in the Baloch insurgency. He was well-known for his strict rule, operating private jails, and claiming complete sovereignty over his subjects. [1] Pakistan’s President Musharraf referred to him as a “cruel dictator” whose “reign of terror” lasted 30 years and who committed his first murder at the age of twelve. [2] Bugti was the first and only Baloch in the Pakistani cabinet for the first 10 years of Pakistan’s existence. Although he campaigned in the 1970s for the election of the National Awami Party (NAP), he turned against the party when it refused to name him governor. Bugti then admitted that he had been involved with the NAP leaders in a plot to create an independent Balochistan using foreign arms; this led the Pakistani government to dismiss the NAP in 1973. This incident led many in the nationalist movement to distrust him and resist his efforts at unification of various parties. [3] Bugti later went on to serve as the governor of Balochistan, as the chief minister in the provincial assembly, and as the leader of the Baloch National Alliance. [4] His death has served as a rallying point for many nationalists, acting as an umbrella under which many of the rival nationalist groups and political parties can unite to condemn both his killers and the government’s response to the incident. Sources and Notes [1] Alok Bansal, “Nawab Bugti’s Assassination: Future Portents,” Strategic Analysis, Vol. 30 (3), Jul-Sep 2006. [2] “Bugti Killing, Nothing Personal About It: Musharraf,” South Asia News, September 24, 2006. [3] Bansal, “Nawab Bugti’s Assassination: Future Portents,” see source in [1]. [4] Ibid.

In many of these cases, the accusers were unable to produce proof that CW had been used. False allegations of CW use could result from a misunderstanding of the definition of a chemical weapon or a misinterpretation of events. A group or state could conceivably mistake another substance, such as smoke or white phosphorus, neither of which is prohibited under the CW treaties, for a chemical weapon. Alternatively, groups or states could make spurious claims, for propaganda purposes, that their opponents have used chemical weapons.

Conclusion
To date, Jamil Bugti has not been able to support his allegations regarding his father’s death with substantial evidence, suggesting that his claims may be intended to gain political leverage. Media reports provide little beyond the angry charges of a grieving son, and, without further information, it is impossible to determine whether there is any truth behind his indictment. However, Bugti’s claim may carry greater weight given that it is not the first accusation of CW use by Pakistani forces against the Balochi insurgency – although here, too, convincing evidence of CW use has yet to surface.

Bugti’s allegations can be seen as a testimony to the strength of the norm against CW use. His charges reflect his confidence in the deep revulsion of the world community to CW and his belief that such charges will draw international attention to his cause. Moreover, if CW use could be proven, Pakistan would suffer intense international criticism.

Amanda Moodie - Monterey Institute James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies