Sher Mohammad Marri ( bal, میر شير محمد مری) was the chief of the Marri

Baloch tribe The Baloch or Baluch ( bal, بلۏچ, Balòc) are an Iranian people who live mainly in the Balochistan region, located at the southeasternmost edge of the Iranian plateau, encompassing the countries of Pakistan, Iran, and Afghanistan. There ar ...

in Pakistan, and an early leader in the Parrari movement which would lead to the formation of the

Baloch Liberation Army The Balochistan Liberation Army ( bal, بلۏچستان آجوییء لشکر; Abbreviation, abbreviated BLA), also known as the Baloch Liberation Army, is a Baloch people, Baloch ethnonationalist militant organization based in Afghanistan. The ...

, a militant nationalist group. A Marxist, he had close ties to leftist governments in

Kabul Kabul (; ps, , ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province; it is administratively divided into 22 municipal districts. Acco ...

and

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Life

Sher Muhammad Marri was born in

Kohlu Kohlu (Urdu and bal, ) is the capital of Kohlu District in Pakistan's Balochistan province.In· May 1892 a sub-tahsil was established at Kohlu, the income being treated as a part of the Zhob Zhob (; ) or Zhobak (), formerly known as Appozai ...

Balochistan Balochistan ( ; bal, بلۏچستان; also romanised as Baluchistan and Baluchestan) is a historical region in Western and South Asia, located in the Iranian plateau's far southeast and bordering the Indian Plate and the Arabian Sea coastline. ...

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

in 1935. He was also known as Babu Shero, Shero Marri, General Sherof and Baloch Tiger.

Insurgency

Sher Mohammad was the first Baloch to use the tactics of modern guerrilla warfare against the government. In early 1960s his Parari fighters attacked the

Pakistani Armed Forces The Pakistan Armed Forces (; ) are the Military, military forces of Pakistan. It is the List of countries by number of military and paramilitary personnel, world's sixth-largest military measured by Active duty, active military personnel and con ...

in the Marri area and in Jahlawan under Mir Ali Muhammad Mengal. This campaign came to an end in 1967 with the declaration of a

general amnesty Amnesty (from the Ancient Greek ἀμνηστία, ''amnestia'', "forgetfulness, passing over") is defined as "A pardon extended by the government to a group or class of people, usually for a political offense; the act of a sovereign power offic ...

. In 1973, Marri was arrested for his role in the struggles against the government of

Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Zulfikar (or Zulfiqar) Ali Bhutto ( ur, , sd, ذوالفقار علي ڀٽو; 5 January 1928 – 4 April 1979), also known as Quaid-e-Awam ("the People's Leader"), was a Pakistani barrister, politician and statesman who served as the fourth ...

. Upon his release in the late 1970s, Marri went into exile in Pakistan's Marxist neighbour, the

Democratic Republic of Afghanistan The Democratic Republic of Afghanistan (DRA),, renamed the Republic of Afghanistan, in 1987, was the Afghan state during the one-party rule of the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) from 1978 to 1992. The PDPA came to power ...

. Following the fall of the Communist Afghan government in April 1992, Marri briefly returned to Pakistan but then he went to

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. In his last few years, Sher Mohammad Marri saw the cause of Baloch nationalism evaporating. The Baloch nationalist movement was full of schisms and in a state of disarray. The Baloch nationalist became divided after a bitter dispute broke out between Sher Mohammad Marri and

Khair Bakhsh Marri Nawab Khair Bakhsh Marri (28 February 1928 – 10 June 2014), bal, نواب خیر بخش مری) was Pakistani politician from the province of Balochistan in Pakistan. Early life and career Khair Bakhsh Marri had received his early educ ...

. On 11 May 1993, Sher Mohammad Marri died in a hospital, in

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament House ...

References

Bibliography

Interview of Sher Mohammad Marri
Sher Mohammad Marri and Ahmed Shuja, Pakistan Forum, Vol. 3, No. 8/9, Focus on Baluchistan (May - Jun., 1973), pp. 38–40,

Middle East Research and Information Project The Middle East Research and Information Project (MERIP) is a non-profit independent research group established in 1971, that has released reports and position papers on various Middle East conflicts. Its most prominent publication is ''Middle East ...

* Political Terrorism: A New Guide to Actors, Authors, Concepts, Data Bases, Theories, & Literature By Albert J. Jongman, Alex Peter Schmid, 1935 births 1993 deaths Baloch militants Baloch nationalists Pakistani guerrillas Pakistani exiles {{Pakistan-politician-stub