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CNN Live At Daybreak

Bugti Tribal Life in Baluchistan Province of Pakistan

Aired November 12, 2001 - 05:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: The largest province in Pakistan isn't run by the country's government. Instead, Baluchistan is where nuclear weapons are tested and where drug cartels, gun runners, and warlords test the limits of their power.

CNN's Carol Lin is in that region.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CAROL LIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The famous Bugti hospitality comes at the end of the barrel of a gun. We were escorted by a convoy of heavily armed guards to ensure safe passage into territory where tribal warfare still rages in a raw countryside of rugged mountains and unpaved roads, where Pakistan's largest and oldest tribe, the Bugtis, the road to law and order can be just as wild.

Dera Bugti is the heart of the Bugti Tribe where Madar Bugti is on trial for murder, but Pakistani police or a judge will never hear the case. The prosecution of defense will rest on Madar's walk over a bed of hot coals.

"If he is innocent, spare him," a senior tribesman prays to Allah. "If he is guilty, burn his feet." Seven agonizing steps. The crowd shouts "save him, save him," as they dunk his feet in cold water. Madar and the tribe now wait to see if any telltale blisters grow.

"The police don't offer justice," the Bugti chief security officer says. "Here, if someone is guilty, it'll show when he walks on fire. We'll decide in 24 hours." And it is this man who will decide, Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti, the tribe's chief, who is father, protector, judge and jury for 187,000 Bugti tribes people who worship him.

They are spread out over a vast territory, too wild for the Pakistani government, which long ago ceded control.

NAWAB AKBAR KHAN BUGTI, BUGTI TRIBAL CHIEF: Because the overwhelming majority of the people follow those laws and rules and all that. So the government, if they go against it, it's just like striking a brick wall.

LIN: Just try telling a Bugti warrior that Pakistan says he's got to turn over his automatic rifle or face life in prison. It doesn't happen here on Main Street, where Bugti tribesmen use their weapons for moving livestock or just being one of the gang.

Tribal custom allows them to openly violate Pakistan's anti gun law. In Dera Bugti, laws are made on this concrete island in the Bugti courtyard, where the council of elders honor Nawab Bugti and meet to decide everything from whether the local adulteress should hang herself -- as is tribal custom -- to whether her family should just shoot her dead, to ending feuds between local clans.

The real action takes place oddly in this backyard garage, where Nawab's grandson handles civil disputes. Like these two parties, fighting over title to some land. There is no call to order in this court. Finally Bahram Bugti tells both parties to "sit down and shut up." Decisions made are as binding as life or death.

BUGTI: No, they can't refuse.

LIN: What if they refuse? What happens?

BUGTI: They refuse, then they can't be here, then they are to leave because everybody will gather around to kick them out.

LIN: And so what of the fate of Madar Bugti, the man accused of murder? He is brought to Nawab Bugti as night falls and the chief rules on the evidence. Guilty, because the coals burned Madar's soles, Nawab has ruled, the dead victim's family can decide later whether to take Madar's land and money or kill him. He pleads for mercy now, but gets none.

Carol Lin, CNN, Dera Bugti, Pakistan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Wow, well that story tells a lot. It couldn't possibly cover what Carol and her crew had to go through to bring you that report. But she can certainly tell us in person. Good morning Carol, and I'm very eager to hear your personal assessment. You amaze me with these stories you've been doing.

LIN: Kyra, I'm sorry, I couldn't hear that last part. I did hear you talk about how tough it was to get into the region and indeed it was. You have to get government permission to go into these regions and we certainly weren't going to get the permission of the Pakistani government at a time where the movements of western journalists in this country are being very closely watched, so we worked with our local team here -- local Pakistanis, who connected us to the chief, and he met us with an armed escort, and that's what it took -- three truck loads of 12 armed, black turbaned gunmen, who got us past the army checkpoints and into the city of Dera Bugti, and it was -- it was really phenomenal.

PHILLIPS: You know what else caught my attention, is just this justice system, the fact that your fate could be in the hands of your neighbor. Just imagine if Americans had that kind of power, it's amazing.

LIN: It is amazing. I mean when we were sitting there at dinner with the tribal chief when they brought in this man, Madar Bugti, to see that the soles of his feet were burned, and when the tribal chief issued his edict to give the choice to the victim's family to determine this man's fate, we wondered to ourselves what would they decide; what would you decide if you actually could determine whether somebody lived or died?

Now last we checked, the family had not yet made that decision, but what sweet revenge it must be to hold the fate of the man who killed your loved one and knowing that he'd be walking the streets of town, knowing that he had to look over his shoulder everyday, wondering if somebody was going to put a bullet in his head. That is their form of justice.

PHILLIPS: What else did you learn with regard to respect for authority as you spent time with these tribal members? It's really quite an interesting level, isn't it?

LIN: Yes it really is Kyra, and it's interesting what you get used to. You know we were talking about this frontier sense of justice, and you raise a really good point, in American society it would be, you know, utter chaos to think that if somebody else could rule in your fate -- as we were talking about with this man -- the chaos that would rain on the streets when, you know, effectively the highest court in the land says that murder can be justified if it -- if it is a matter of honor.

But in fact, it's a very ordered society. I mean this -- this tribal law and the fact that they have such a strong leader and such a strong tradition that has lasted over 1400 years -- when you're there, you actually feel remarkably safe, which sounds a little odd because as you're walking down Main Street, men carry Kalashnikov rifles in the same way that you and I would carry a backpack or a handbag.

And yet people are incredibly warm and incredibly hospitable. I had a case of food poisoning when I was there and as a matter of courtesy they wanted to bring me some entertainment, so imagine the scene when you know, three black turban gunmen with Kalashnikov rifles came in to deliver a TV set and a VCR and a bootleg copy of "Mission Impossible II".

It was the ultimate act of kindness and really bizarre for an American woman to be in a very male dominated society and really be treated as -- as a guest.

PHILLIPS: Wow that's pretty amazing. So as a female you do feel respected and you are being honored.

LIN: Well respected only in the sense that because I was the guest of the tribal chief, I was treated somewhat as an equal. However what you have to get used to in the -- in the Muslim culture is that men don't feel comfortable addressing me directly. They will tend to speak directly with my male photographer, Scott McWheny (ph), even though they're really answering my question. It is a form of respect.

The council of elders that you saw in the piece, never before has a woman attended that council of elders and on several days I actually sat next to the chief and watched the proceedings unfold and this would be -- imagine if a woman was banned from sitting in the House of Representatives, even up in the gallery to watch the proceedings. That's effectively what the tribal law says, and yet because I was the guest of the chief, you know, the last word in the land, so to speak, my presence was respected.

But I did wear local clothing. I did, for the most part, cover my head. It was really just a sign of respect for their culture as well as their traditions.

PHILLIPS: Well I can tell you Leon and I definitely respect what you're doing and everybody back in this news room. Carol Lin, thank you so much. We look forward to the next report.

LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Nice going Carol. Kind of interesting. I mean they have VCRs. They have telephones, televisions and yet and still, they make your walk over coals to determine whether or not you're guilty.

PHILLIPS: It's like two totally different worlds.

HARRIS: Yes, worlds collide there.

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