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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ISLAMABAD 017594 
 
SIPDIS 
 
NOFORN 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/05/2016 
TAGS: PK PREL PGOV KTER PINR
SUBJECT: BUGTI INTERRED, FAMILY IGNORED, BALOCHISTAN QUIET 
BUT SEETHING 
 
REF: A. ISLAMABAD 16944 
 
     ¶B. ISLAMABAD 17044 
     ¶C. ISLAMABAD 17255 
     ¶D. ISLAMABAD 17547 
 
Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Peter W. Bodde, 
Reason: 1.4 (B) and (D) 
 
¶1. (U) Protests over the August 26 death of Bugti tribal 
leader Nawab Bugti (refs A,B, and C) continued over the 
weekend.  On August 31, the government announced that it had 
retrieved Bugti's remains from the cave in which he was 
killed. Its decision to bury the body rather than to return 
the remains to the family resulted in additional calls for 
demonstrations on September 3 and 6.  The September 3 
demonstrations were limited almost exclusively to 
Balochistan. 
 
¶2. (U)  On September 1, the Dera Bugti District Coordination 
Officer and a few members of the newly-formed anti-Nawab 
Bugti jirga (Ref D) buried Nawab Bugti,s remains in the 
family plot, but without the blessing or participation of the 
Bugti family.  The family, which had demanded to be given 
custody of the remains, wanted to hold the funeral in 
Balochistan's capital Quetta, center of the protest over his 
death.  Pakistan Muslim League (PML) leaders Chaudhry Shujaat 
Hussain and Mushahid Hussein were quoted in many papers as 
regretting that they had failed to ensure that the remains 
were respectfully returned to the Bugti family. 
 
¶3. (C)  Calls by opposition parties and Baloch nationalists 
for a nationwide "shutter strike" on September 1 received a 
mixed response, with greater participation in Balochistan and 
Sindh than in the rest of Pakistan.  A heavy security 
presence in major cities ensured that most demonstrations 
were peaceful; on balance, the strike failed to whip up 
public passions as the opposition has hoped.  One member of 
Jamaat Islami's (JI) youth wing Shabbab-e-Milli lamented to 
post that the GOP had sidestepped the Muttahida 
Majlis-e-Amal,s (MMA) trap by not/not ordering mass arrests 
of MMA and other protest leaders.  Another contact opined 
that the nationwide strike call was a waste of time, saying 
that in areas outside of Balochistan, "those who came out 
were the usual Jumna (Friday prayer) crowd which is always 
available to the mullahs."  On September 3, anti-government 
protests  were limited to Balochistan, with approximately 
5,000 demonstrators in Quetta and 5,000 others across the 
province. 
 
¶4. (U)  Following the September 3 demonstrations ended, six 
violent incidents occurred, including a grenade attack in 
Quetta; an attack upon a natural gas pipeline near Mastung; 
an improvised explosive device near a government office in 
Gwadar and a rocket fired at a Frontier Corps post in 
Khudzar.  The grenade attack resulted in six injuries. 
Organizers had requested no violence during the 
demonstrations. 
 
------------------- 
POLITICAL SHAKE-UP? 
------------------- 
 
¶5. (SBU) In Quetta, the Balochistan National Party (BNP) 
announced it had resigned its seats in the Senate, National 
Assembly, Balochistan Assembly and district assemblies.  The 
party said it would no longer participate in elections or 
support the current government.  (NOTE: The BNP currently 
holds one Senate, one National Assembly and two provincial 
assembly seats. END NOTE)  Other Baloch parties were 
discussing whether to follow the BNP's lead.  The MMA, which 
holds 28 of the 65 seats in the Balochistan Assembly, will 
decide whether to resign its seats on September 5; most 
observers believe the MMA will opt to remain at the table. 
The two members of the BNP-Mengal faction quit the 
 
ISLAMABAD 00017594  002 OF 002 
 
 
Balochistan Assembly, but their sole senator is not expected 
to resign from the National Assembly. 
 
----------------------- 
THE GOVERNMENT RESPONDS 
----------------------- 
 
¶6.  (SBU) In an effort to reverse the anti-government media 
spin, Minister of Information Ali Durrani described Bugti, 
Khair Baksh Marri and Ataulla Mengal (other prominent and 
rebellious Baloch tribal sardars) as having "an outlook of 
terrorists."  Durrani detailed a long charge sheet containing 
a range of crimes reportedly committed by all three leaders. 
Separately, Balochistan Governor Owais Ghani described the 
arsenal the government reportedly recovered  in Bugti,s cave 
hideaway as including multi-barrel rocket launchers, 75 mm 
recoilless rifles, 82 mm mortars and surface-to-air missiles, 
all from the former Soviet Union, and channeled through 
Afghanistan and possibly India, according the Governor. 
 
------- 
COMMENT 
------- 
 
¶7.  (C) GOP and military officials did themselves no favors 
by failing to reach an accommodation with Bugti,s survivors 
to return the Nawab,s remains for a family burial.  Instead, 
the GOP,s insensitivity to the family's wishes and tribal 
traditions has prolonged anti-government criticism and 
spawned a new generation of conspiracy theories.  Some media 
questioned the military's ability to quickly recover its 
soldiers' remains while requiring  four additional days to 
recover the body of the Nawab.  Others suggested that photos 
of the Nawab's undamaged watch and eyeglasses -- prominently 
displayed by government officials as proof of his death ) 
actually suggested that that he was not killed by the cave,s 
collapse, but was  shot at close range or killed in a gas 
attack.  Even if the accusations against Bugti and the rebel 
sardars in Information Minister Durrani,s &charge sheet8 
are on the mark, there is little chance of them sticking in 
the current media climate.  END COMMENT. 
 
¶8.  (U) Consulate Karachi contributed to this report. 
BODDE