Z.A.Bhutto

Asadullah Mengal, son of that most upright Baloch Sardar and gentleman, Ataullah. Asadullah and his friend Ahmad Shah Kurd were ambushed outside the house of Balakh Sher Mazari. Asadullah was killed, and his body dragged along the road and dumped in the back of a car. Ahmad Shah was taken alive, put in the car, driven away and then killed. No one was ever charged, no one ever found out the whos, the whys or the wherefores.

One night in December 1973, a hand grenade was thrown down the ventilator of the Quetta house of NAP Pakhtoonkhwa leader Abdus Samad Achakzai. The grenade exploded, killing Achakzai. No one was ever charged or apprehended.

Sherbaz spoke also of 'Johnny' Dass, son of the highly respected Air Commodore Balwant Dass, one of the most senior officers of the PAF who served his country with distinction. Dulip Dass, known to his family and friends as Johnny (and Later known to the Baloch as 'Dilu') at the age of 25 returned to Pakistan from England in 1972, where he was doing his chartered accountancy - 'to do something for his country', as he put it. He and a few other idealistic young men went to Balochistan. Johnny was accused of being a sympathizer of the Baloch insurgency and was put on the 'wanted' list. On his way out of the province, betrayed by an informer, he was ambushed at Jhatpat, taken away by the 'agencies', kept in custody (in Quetta jail for a while, it is said). The story has it that he was tortured to death. Where or when no one knows. His father spent months on his trail in Balochistan; despite his rank and standing neither the army nor the 'agencies' gave him any help or information. His body was never found.

In March 1974, Maulvi Sahmsuddin, Deputy Speaker of the Balochistan Assembly of the opposition party Jamiat-i-Ulema Islam, left Quetta for Fort Sandeman in his official vehicle. Malik Haji Gul Mandokhel left Quetta by car later the same day and found Shamsuddin shot dead in his car near Qila Shagal. It was later learnt that a man called Shah Wazir had visited Shamsuddin at Quetta, stayed with him for three days and had insisted on accompanying him to Fort Sandeman. Shah Wazir was never found, dead or alive.

Dr Nazir Ahmed, MNA of the JI, was an outspoken critic of Mr Bhutto's politics and style of government. One evening in June 1972 a man entered his clinic in Dera Ghazi Khan and shot him dead. The case was ostensibly investigated by the police. Two men were sent up for trial and both were discharged by the court, the judgment saying: "The investigation seems to be intentionally dishonest." The public prosecutor submitted before the court that the police had intentionally 'spoiled' the case. Jassarat, in a front-page article, wrote: "the motive behind the murder is political and the police investigation are ridiculous." Information Minister Kausar Niazi suggested that action be taken against the paper and Bhutto approved, noting "certainly this needs to be done."

Then there were the six Hurs - Mehrab Sinjhrani, Umaid Ali Sinjhrani, Jan Mohammed Sinjhrani, Hanzo Bahnejo, Syed Ali Sher, and Allah Dad Wadho. Pir Pagara posed a problem for Bhutto, so in 1973 a plan was prepared to diminish, if not demolish, his influence by subduing his followers. Chief security officer Saeed Ahmed Khan and provincial minister Jam Sadiq Ali were ordered to undertake the anti-Hur operations. Ali Bakhsh Junejo of the Sanghar district PPP, a close associate of Jam Sadiq Ali, was murdered by unidentified men. The following day, the six Hurs were ordered to attend the court of district magistrate, Sanghar, Imdadullah Unar, where proceedings under the 'Goonda Act' were pending against them. The magistrate handed them over to police custody. They were confined in Sanghar police station and that night were taken out handcuffed, and driven towards Kanan Mori. Jam Sadiq Ali, Imdadullah Unar and SP Ghulam Shabbir Kalyar followed them in another vehicle. At Kanan Mori the six Hurs were shot dead in "an encounter with the police." The police party was rewarded.

Faqir Mohammed Amin, chief Khalifa of Pir Pagara and a leading Hur, was taken to Sukkur jail in October 973. On the strength of a fictitious surety bond he was taken out of jail by sub inspector Maluk Hussain of Sanghar police station, driven to an unknown destination and has never been heard of since.

The most famous of the political murders was that of Hayat Sherpao, one of the founders of the PPP. Rafi writes: "A few months before his death he seriously considered leaving the Party altogether ... Of all those around ZAB, Sherpao's personal devotion had been the greatest and his subsequent disillusionment was consequently the most profound." In February 1975, he was blown up by a bomb whilst addressing the students of Peshawar University. ZAB was in New York at the time and on hearing the news "rushed back to Pakistan deprived of enjoying to the full the success of his visit to the US." This murder was the perfect excuse for ZAB to ban the NAP and imprison Wali Khan and all the other leaders.