PAKISTAN: Baloch nationalist leader killed by military

Nawab Akbar Bugti, a key leader of the Baloch national liberation movement in Pakistan's south-western Balochistan province, was killed in a military attack on his headquarters on August 26. Nawab Bugti was 79, a veteran of the Baloch liberation struggle and the tribal chieftain of the Bugti tribe, one of the largest tribes in Balochistan. Alongside their allies the Marri tribe, the Bugti have led a simmering insurrection against the central Pakistani government since the late '90s. The federal government has long suppressed the national aspirations of the Baloch people. Balochistan is Pakistan's largest province and is resource rich, containing some 20% of Pakistan's mineral and energy resources, but is sparsely populated. The Baloch people have benefited little from the exploitation of their resources by the central government. Long-standing grievances of the Baloch people against the federal Pakistani government have seen open armed conflict in 1948, 1958 and 1975. The most recent hostilities erupted in late 2005 following the rape of a female doctor by Pakistani military personnel and a rocket attack against a Frontier Corps base then being visited by General Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan's dictator. The killing of Nawab Akbar Bugti sparked rioting throughout Balochistan.