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To be a Karachi Bugti who yearns for watan and dry wood
🇵🇰 Pakistan /Culture & Society

To be a Karachi Bugti who yearns for watan and dry wood

From Dawn · () English

Summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

In-depth Sources not specified Context piece
  • Meerdali Bugti, displaced from Dera Bugti twenty years ago after the killing of Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti, now lives in a Karachi settlement, yearning for his homeland.
  • He describes his current life in Karachi as filled with overwhelming noise and a loss of peace, contrasting it sharply with the tranquility and natural beauty of his village.
  • The article highlights the broader displacement of thousands of Bugti tribesmen and their families following the intensified conflict in Balochistan, which led to the emptying of villages.

Dawn breaks over Ghaggar Phatak, an edge-of-Karachi settlement where Meerdali Bugti, 65, attempts to preserve a way of life reminiscent of his ancestral home in Dera Bugti. His small hut, assembled from salvaged materials, is meticulously organized, a stark contrast to the bustling city that now surrounds him.

Each morning, Meerdali is transported back to his village in the hills of Dera Bugti by the crowing of a rooster. He remembers a time of green valleys, clear springs, and the gentle sounds of nature, a stark contrast to the incessant noise of motorcycles, trucks, and construction machinery that now defines his Karachi mornings. "There is too much noise here," he laments. "Where I came from, there was peace. The air had its own fragrance. Life flowed through our springs. The mountains spoke to us. The flowers, the leaves, the lakes, everything was alive."

There is too much noise here. Where I came from, there was peace. The air had its own fragrance. Life flowed through our springs. The mountains spoke to us. The flowers, the leaves, the lakes, everything was alive.

— Meerdali BugtiDescribing the contrast between his current life in Karachi and his memories of his homeland.

This August marks two decades since Meerdali fled Dera Bugti following the military operation that killed Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti. He expected a brief absence, but the days turned into years, displacing him and thousands of other Bugti tribesmen and their families across Sindh. The conflict between the Pakistani state and Baloch nationalists, which predates 2006, intensified in the early 2000s, drawing in a younger generation and displacing entire communities.

For the people of Dera Bugti, the fighting reached a critical point in 2005 and 2006. As clashes escalated, Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti retreated to the mountains, signaling the impossibility of normal life. Families began to leave, and villages emptied. After Bugti's death, thousands had already fled, with many more following. A Human Rights Commission of Pakistan report estimated that at the peak of the conflict, nearly 85 percent of Dera Bugti's population had been displaced.

Now I am a man without a homeland.

— Meerdali BugtiExpressing his sense of loss and displacement.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by Dawn. Summarized and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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