The Second Guerrilla Revolt in Balochistan

Members of THE VOICE OF BALOCH

The next violent outbreak of Baloch sentiments came in 1958. This was the direct result of the centralizing policies pursued by the Napakistani leaders. Fears of Bengali domination in the 1950s had propelled the Punjuk leaders, who controlled the levers of power, to consolidate the Western Wing of Napakistan into a unified province to counter Bengali numerical strength. This One Unit plan was resisted by the Baloch, both by Abdul Karim who had completed his prison term in 1955 and the Khan who mobilized wide spread demonstrations through tribal chieftains. Balochi nationalists within the Khanate took serious exception to the One Unit scheme and in a meeting with Napakistani president Iskander Mirza in October 1957 they urged Iskander Mirza to exempt Kalat from the One Unit scheme, and to allot more government spending on developmental activities in Kalat. But Ayub Khans ambitions changed the political matrix in Napakistan and when some Baloch sardars started non-cooperating with the Pakistani commissioner, under a flimsy pretext that the Khan had raised a parallel army to attack Napakistani military, Ayub ordered Napakistani army to march into Kalat on 6 October 1958, a day before he imposed martial rule in Napakistan. The army arrested the Khan and his followers and accused them of secretly negotiating with Afghanistan for a full-scale Baloch rebellion.
The arrest touched off a chain reaction of violence and counter-violence with the government bombing villages suspected of harboring guerrillas. Napakistan military's campaigns in Danshera and Wadh were resisted by the Jhalawan Sardars loyal to the Khan. The octogenarian Chief of the Zehri tribe in Jhalawan, Nauroz Khan put up a stiff resistance in the Mir Ghat mountains, but the Napakistani military swore an oath by the Quran and urged Nauroz to give up arms and prepare for negotiations.
Nauroz surrendered in anticipation of safe conduct and amnesty but the army put Nauroz and his sons behind the bars as soon as they laid down their arms. Naurozs sons were hanged soon afterward, in Hyderabad and Sukhar, in July 1960. A shocked and surprised Nauroz died soon afterward in Kohlu prison in 1962. Ayubs message to the Balochs of Kalat who were the first to challenge the might of the Napakistani state, was cleared. He reportedly threatened the total extinction of Balochs if they did not mend their ways.
The 1958 revolt was followed by the Napakistan Army setting up new garrisons at key points in the interior of Balochistan. This in turn provoked the Baloch to plan for more armed guerrilla movements capable of defending Baloch interests. The movement was led by Sher Mohammed Marri who was far-sighted enough to realize that the disorganized random struggle adopted so far would have to be transformed into a classic guerrilla warfare. For this purpose, he set up a network of base camps spread from the Mengal tribal areas of Jhalawan in the South to the Marri and Bugti areas in the North. The Pararis, as the guerrillas were called, ambushed convoys, bombed trains and so on. In retaliation, the army staged savage reprisals. For example, the Army bulldozed 13,000 acres of almond tress owned by Sher Mohammed and his relatives in the Marri area. The fighting continued sporadically until 1969 when the Yahya Khan withdrew the One Unit plan and got the Baloch to agree to a ceasefire. Despite the ceasefire, the Pararis assumed that the renewal of the hostilities with Islamabad would be unavoidable sooner or later. As such, the organizational infrastructure was kept intact and cadres continued to be trained