If they wanted to off him, all it would have taken is one or two surgical strikes from standoff distances, it was easy and well within the reach of the military. The army put an effort to get him to negotiate. It did not work out and the army lost 5 of their very own inside the cave while negotiating with the Sardar sahib.
He and his band were cornered after fighting the state. The same state/country that brought him into the fold countless times. Bugti sahib lived like a king in a country where his system of tribalism has hurt the poor serfs the most. When he took up the gun, he himself chose the path that led to his demise. Why should he be allowed to pick up a gun against the state and treated as a hero when others like MQM, TTP etc. were put down for doing the very same? You either go benevolent with all or treat them the same.
Realize the facts before blindly getting sucked into this "bash army" bandwagon. I was in Quetta when Bhutto sahib was running the country. A lot of space was given to political negotiations but when one side is insisting on "separatism", then the state has no choice but to deal with it and that may require military power along with talks.
First off, Pakistan Army and PPP needed Akbar Bugti to take out NAP, which was led by Ataullah Mengal at the time. The aftermath of 1971 had traumatized the psyche of the institutions the time that any concessions for greater autonomy or control of resources was met with harsh punitive measures.
Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto sacked Balochistan's provincial government and threw Ataullah Mengal in jail. And tried to get a supreme court order to ban NAP (sounds familiar with the disqualification and foreign funding cases on Imran Khan and PTI
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Then Akbar Bugti was installed and he was given everything despite being a brutal Sardar. The problem with Pakistan Army is that it never learns from its previous mistakes and always thinks its above everyone else, its why they call civilians bloody civilians.
Shazia Khalid's story is very similar to the PTI people who were kidnapped by agencies and Shabaaz Gill. Agencies threw his driver, his wife, and a 10 MONTH OLD BABY in there. Baloch women were also complaining about their babies also being thrown in jails. Everyone used to call it Indian propaganda, but the parallels are way too similar lmfaoo.
Akbar Bugti said "Everyone is after our national wealth....we don't get anything out of it, it is ours". Do you also know who raised the same concerns? The people in the 60s did where there was a small rebellion over Sui Gas. The same story from the 60s was repeated in 2005, but was amplified by army's defense of Shazia Khalid's rape.
Akbar Bugti also said "Musharraf promised to hit us in such a way that we will not know what hit us. In one sense, it is quick death that he is promising us." Do you know who else is saying this and actually did it? Rana Sanaullah right now and when innocent women and children were tear gassed on May 25th.
5G Papa John's warriors, including myself, called all of this Indian propaganda but now the truth and reality of Pakistan was revealed and keeps being revealed. Now same people are saying India is trying to play a hand in PTI "propaganda" against army LOLL.