By Amir ZiaKARACHI: Nawab Khair Bakhsh Marri is seen as the kingpin of the radical Baloch nationalist movement, which explicitly demands an independent Balochistan. Although the veteran Baloch leader appears to be living a quiet life in Karachi’s posh Defence Housing Authority for the past several years, his admirers as well as rivals view him as one of the key players of the separatist movement, operating from behind-the-scenes. The shadowy militant Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) – which is waging a low-intensity insurgency in the rugged mountains of Balochistan, as well as targeting government installations, officials and security forces in the cities – is dominated by his Marri tribesmen.
An enigma to many of his contemporaries, Nawab Khair Bakhsh Marri was a key leader of the 1973-77 Baloch insurgency that saw an estimated 50,000 Baloch fighters taking up arms against the Pakistan Army. Thousands of people were killed in the insurgency, including hundreds of security personnel. The Marri tribe spearheaded the movement, which was supported by a handful of Pakistani leftists as well as by the now-defunct Soviet bloc. KB, as he was popularly known at the time, was languishing in prison during that entire period, along with several key leaders of the banned National Awami Party including Ghous Bakhsh Bizenjo and Ataullah Mengal under the Hyderabad conspiracy case. Once freed by the former military dictator General Zia-ul-Haq, KB flew to Europe for a brief stop over and then went into self-imposed exile in Afghanistan, along with his tribesmen.
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