Pakistan battles ethnic guerrillas

In the remote desert of Baluchistan, a war for independence is distracting Pakistan as it struggles to contain Taliban and al-Qaida militants along the Afghan border. It is up against an array of Baluch fighters who accuse it of plundering the hidden riches of the arid southwestern province: natural gas.

It’s Pakistan’s ‘other’ war, a sideshow to its battle in troubled Waziristan some 250 miles to the north, where pro-Taliban fighters have gained stature and
Osama bin Laden is still suspected to be hiding.

But the conflict in Baluchistan is also a costly one, feeding off the deprivation in what is Pakistan’s largest and poorest province despite sitting on the nation’s principal gas reserves.

People in Baluchistan feel shortchanged. The royalties on their gas have barely changed since 1952. Only 25 percent of villages are electrified, and only 20 percent have safe drinking water. The shadowy and recently outlawed Baluchistan Liberation Army is blamed for near-daily attacks on gas pipelines and electricity pylons that have disrupted the province’s power supply. It claimed responsibility for bombings at a police training school at the provincial capital Quetta on May 11 that killed seven people.

Musharraf says he wants to develop Baluchistan. He is building a deep sea port at its coast and encouraging foreign investment. But new military garrisons intended to secure the restive region have bred suspicion and hardened resistance.

“The government wants to take complete control of the gas fields for future digging and drilling. Their policy is to exterminate the Baluch,” said Nawab Akbar Bugti, 79, the silver-bearded Bugti chief, speaking to The Associated Press by satellite phone from his mountain hideout.

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