The Death of an Evil Man

Use of terror, coercion, and murder of innocents always defeats a cause, no matter how worthy, and in the history books centuries from now these men will all be in the evil column together, and the causes and beliefs they fight for will be the forgotten dust blown off the pages. At the bottom of this all we really have a strong man trying to control the gas and oil wealth of a region.

nawab akbar bugti.jpgNawab Akbar Bugti is dead, along with most of his top followers from Dera Bugti, including other family members. Bugti was unhappy with the elected government and many other things, and used terror tactics, insurrection, and a tribal separatist movement to try to change that, establishing himself as the regional warlord. Perhaps his intent was good in his mind, but the means used were evil and unconscionable: death, terror, banditry, and destruction. By using those tactics, he invalidated his causes and set those causes back a century.

 

 

In an earlier war update, I had this to say about the tribal Strong Man structure you still see throughout the middle-east and east

Update: Violence continues in Qetta, but the no-confidence vote failed, from Kyodo News:

Pakistan’s National Assembly on Tuesday rejected a no- confidence motion against Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz tabled by the combined opposition accusing his government of corruption and scandals. At the lower house, 136 members voted in favor of the motion, far below the 172 needed for its passage, while 206 voted against. The voting follows nearly 10 hours of proceedings, which were dominated by speeches by opposition members.

“The no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Aziz has been defeated,” the speaker of the National Assembly, Chaudri Amir Hussain, said amid thumping of the desks by the treasury benches.  Countering a barrage of criticism of his government and President Gen. Pervez Musharraf from the opposition camp, Aziz said it was ironic that those who had accused him were themselves guilty of corruption.  The Pakistan Peoples Party of Benazir Bhutto and the Pakistan Muslim League served as the moving force behind the no-confidence motion, with their leaders now living in exile in Abu Dhabi.

 

These strong men are like mafioso’s in many ways, they are the local charity institute, loan office, aristocrat, and extortionist all rolled into one. This predates the Muslim religion, Alexander (Iskander to those of you from Pakistan) commented on it when he encountered this in Baghdad, saying that all the people were slaves — beholden and in terror of the man holding power above them, owing baksheesh and tribute which they in turn extort from those below them. There are enough complex payola, bribery, hostage taking, assassination, and terror schemes in daily life to make you dizzy. What makes it worse now is that not only are they slave of the local strongman, whether that be Nasrallah or Arafat, they are also slaves to Allah, or at least to the local terror Imam.

There are almost zero individuals in the Mideast outside of Israel, they are all born to serfdom and a station in life, a class in their community. Prejudice among classes in the mid-east makes the Klu Klux Klan look pale, no pun intended.

In a raid this weekend, Nawab and his private army of guerillas were killed in a bunker/cave complex by the Pakistani army. This has lead to riots in Quetta, Islamabad, and Peshawar, but in the end good was served. When he started his carreer, Adolf Hitler probably didn’t think of himself as evil, and neither does Bin Laden. Use of terror, coercion, and murder of innocents always defeats a cause, no matter how worthy, and in the history books centuries from now these men will all be in the evil column together, and the causes and beliefs they fight for will be the forgotten dust blown off the pages. At the bottom of this all we really have a strong man trying to control the gas and oil wealth of a region, and a state within the state does not work. It brings destruction and strife, you only have to look at Lebanon and Hizb’Allah to see that.

In the aftermath of the death we have riots, but the people doing this are destroying the infrastructure and means of gaining wealth and improving their future for the Bugti tribes. It’s foolishness. From the Frontier Post, Pakistan:

An indefinite round-the-clock curfew was clamped in this provincial metropolis as troops were called in to quell violent riots on Sunday, a day after veteran Baloch nationalist leader Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti was killed in a military operation in Kohlu area of the restive Balochistan province. Angry protestors went on the rampage in the gas-rich province, torching vehicles, damaging a number of buildings including banks and a petrol station. Police said that a paramilitary checkpoint, government offices and commercial plazas were attacked in different parts of the province. A police officer and a civilian were killed in separate clashes touched off by Saturday?s raid. Airport Police Station SHO Abdullah Afridi was killed on the spot in one incident of firing while a passerby perished in another in Shahbaz Town, police and witnesses said. At least 44 people including police were wounded. In a desperate attempt to deal with the aftermath of the deadly operation conducted in Chalgri area of Bhamboor hills of Dera Bugti, personnel of the army, police and law-enforcing agencies were deployed to control rioters.

When all is said and done, perhaps the people of the region should look instead to what the State of Alaska in the US has done regarding oil wealth, and the distribution of that to the people. In Alaska, the state charges a miniscule tax on the oil and gas that passes through the pipeline over state land. This in turn gets invested in a permanent trust fund of balanced stocks, bonds, and investments that in turn helps the state and region. The profits at year end are divided by the population and checks are mailed to everyone who is a resident of the state. These checks range anywhere from $800.00 US to $1,400.00 US per year depending on how well the permanent fund does with investing.

The other great benefit of the Permanent Fund is that the individuals spend that money locally, which really helps keep the entire regional economy uplifted. The best thing however is that individuals are in control of their money and their future instead of the local strong man and his bandits.

2 thoughts on “The Death of an Evil Man”

  1. I agree, I’ve been looking at this awhile, it would serve all countries in the region well to look at this method. It ensures that the people in the region get something back beyond construction jobs for a short period from the oil and gas from their region, and it gives them a vested interest in keeping that gas and oil flowing. It brings the wealth of the world to poor regions and individuals.

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