Badaber Uprising

Infobox Military Conflict
conflict=Badaber Uprising
partof=the Soviet war in Afghanistan and the Operation Cyclone


caption=
date=April 26, 1985 - April 27, 1985
place=Badaber, Peshawar District, Pakistan
casus=
territory=
result=Uprising was suppressed
combatant1=flagicon|USSR Soviet P.O.W. flagicon|Afghanistan|1980 Democratic Republic of Afghanistan P.O.W.
combatant2=St. Khalid ibn al-Walid Training Regiment of Afghan mujahideen, flagicon|Pakistan Pakistan 11th Army corps, military personnel from U.S.A., Republic of China and Egypt [http://www.bratishka.ru/archiv/2006/7/2006_7_5.php "АРХИВ: Последнее па Пешаварского вальса".] R. Shkurlatov. "Bratishka magazine", July, 2006. ru icon] [http://www.rustrana.ru/article.php?nid=8803 "Бадабера: неизвестный подвиг".] S. Pahmutov. "Фонд "Русская Цивилизация"", 11 November, 2007. ru icon]
commander1=Viktor Vasil'evich Duhovchenko
commander2=Burhanuddin Rabbani
strength1=12 Soviet and 40 Afghanistan captives [http://journalsmolensk.ru/07-07/14/14.PHP "Восстание в Барадере: в поисках истины".] I.Elistratov. "Smolensk magazine", July 2007. ru icon]
strength2=~300 Afghan mujahideen, Pakistan 11th Army corps, ~50 foreign military instructors
casualties1=All were killed
casualties2=~100-120 mujahideen, 40-90 Pakistani soldiers, 6 foreign military instructors

Badaber Uprising was an armed uprising by Soviet and Democratic Republic of Afghanistan (DRA) captives at Badaber, Pakistan in April 26 and 27, 1985, against much larger units of Pakistan's regular army accompanied by Afghan mujahideen. The attempt of the captives to liberate themselves failed. As a result of the two-day assault of the fortress-jail Badaber by the guards with accompanying artillery shelling, all the captives were killed.

Background

The Badaber refugee camp, 24 km from Peshawar, acted as the military training center of Afghan rebels who opposed the Soviet Union's occupation of their nation. They trained under supervision by military instructors from USA, Pakistan, Republic of China and Egypt. The Badaber base belonged to Jamiat-e Islami of Afghanistan, one of the most influential and major opposition groups that resisted Soviet influence in Afghanistan as a part of Operation Cyclone.

Soviet and DRA captives were brought to the base in 1983-1984 after being held in "zindans" by rebel units. They were assigned heavy duties that included work in a quarry and loading of ordnance, etc., while mujahideen tried to force them to accept Islam. As of 1985, 12 Soviet and about 40 Afghan captives were held in Badaber.

Communication with the "shuravis" or Soviet Afghans was prohibited during the period of imprisonment. Anyone trying to talk was whipped.

The uprising and the revolt

1985-04-26, at about 18:00 pm, a group of captives (Soviet and DRA) rose in rebellion against their captors. They used the moment when only two of 70 mujahideen were guarding the prison, since the other personnel were gathered on the drill square to perform the evening prayers known as "namaz". The captives penetrated the armoury, took weapons and ammunition and tried to escape. (Some sources say that the main objective was to capture the fortress' radio center and go on-air and report the prison's location.)

The escape was sabotaged when Haist Gol, the Badaber lead guard, came to know about it and raised the alarm in the base. He took all possible measures to prevent the escape of the captives. The captives were forced to stay in the base and seized the key points in the fortress. Mujahideen detachments, as well as infantry, tank and artillery units of 11th Pakistan Army Corps quickly blocked the fortress area. Several attempts to recapture the fortress were repelled by the defending captives.

Burhanuddin Rabbani, then leader of Jamiat-e Islami, arrived at the base on 21:00 pm and began negotiations. He proposed that the captives surrender and promised their lives would be spared. The defending captives put forth demands to meet with a Soviet or Afghanistan ambassador in Pakistan and representatives from the Red Cross. They threatened to blow up the armoury if their demands were not met. Rabbani rejected these demands, fuelling attacks that continued all night.

By 08:00 am on 1985-04-27, it became clear that the revolt would not end. Rabbani missed being hit by deadly rockets shots from the fortress, but his bodyguard received serious shrapnel wounds in the attack. The Jamiat-e Islami leader decided to finish the battle with an all-out assault on the fort. He drew on artillery units, in particular rocket systems 9K51 Grad, tanks and even Pakistan Air Force helicopters to use against the defenders.

How the revolt ended is viewed differently by each side. Some say that one of the artillery shells struck the armoury building, setting off an overwhelming explosion. The series of explosions practically levelled the prison at Badaber. Three wounded and shell-shocked survivors were dragged to the walls and blown up by attackers using hand grenades.

Other sources said that the defenders blew the armoury up themselves, after it became clear that the battle was in vain.cite web |url=http://www.novdelo.ru/article.php?id=698&PHPSESSID=1e42257eb2f37eac |title=Восстание поверженных" |author=V. Andryuhin |publisher=Новое дело |accessdate=2005-09-08 ru icon] cite web |url=http://www.trud.ru/issue/article.php?id=200705035750601 |title=Восставшие в аду Бадабера |author=E. Kirichenko |publisher=Trud Newspaper |accessdate=2007-05-03 ru icon] .

Casualties

The defending captives

As of 2008, only these names are known:

The prison guards

According to different sources, approximately 100 to 120 mujahideen, 40 to 90 Pakistani soldiers and 6 US military instructors were killed. The explosion destroyed the Badaber base, 3 9K51 Grad's, thousands of shells and rockets, about 40 cannons, mortars and machine-guns. The fortress' chancellery was also destroyed along with the list of captives.

Aftermath

The incident caused alarm of Pakistan government and Afghanistan mujahideen. April 29 1985, Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, the president of Pakistan, decided to classify all information related to the incident. On the same day, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, the lead of the Hezbi Islami, issued an order stated: "Do not capture shuravi soldiers in the future, but annihilate them at the taking place." The intel reports of the Aerospace Service Center on April 28 1985 shocked the Soviet government as well: "The crater size on the image received by communication satellite reaches 80 meters."

May 9 1985, a representative of the International Red Cross visited the Soviet Embassy in Islamabad and confirmed the armed uprising of prisoners of war. [http://www.rsva.ru/biblio/prose_af/10_let/8.shtml?part=17 "Афганистан: 10 лет глазами СМИ".] В.Виноградов. ru icon]

May 11 1985, Soviet ambassador noted a protest of the Soviet government to Pakistan President Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, which is stated: "The Soviet side holds full responsibility for what had happened to the Government of Pakistan and expects that it will make appropriate conclusions about the effects posed by his complicity in the aggression against the DRA and thereby against the Soviet Union." However, no other measures against Pakistan had been taken by USSR.

May 16 1985, UN permanent representative of DRA M. Zarif sent a letter concerning this incident to the UN Secretary-General, which was circulated as an official document of the General Assembly and the Security Council.

According to Yousaf Mohammad, the Pakistan Inter-Services Intelligence officer, the incident "could quickly get out of hand, or lead to international confrontation". [ [http://artofwar.ru/i/izchuzhogookopa/text_0015.shtml "Yousaf Mohammad. Badaber".] Original text and Russian translation by V.Pleshkevich.] The fact of uprising was concealed by both Pakistan and USSR governments for many years until the dissolution of the USSR. Six names of uprising participants were given to Alexander Rutskoy committee by Shahryar Khan, the deputy of Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Pakistan, only in 1992.

In 2002, the application for award of three uprising participants, the Russians Igor Vas'kov, Nicholay Dudkin and Sergei Levchishin, was sent by the Warriors-Internationalists Affairs Committee‎ to Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov. The response was negative: "Unfortunately, there is no basis to proceed with the application for award".

Mass culture

The Russian / Kazakhstan movie "Peshavarskiy Vals" released in 1994 was based on this incident.

ee also

* Burhanuddin Rabbani
* Inter-Services Intelligence
* Operation Cyclone

Notes

References

* Afghanistan - The Bear Trap (The Defeat of a Super-power). Yousaf, Mohammad & Adkin, Mark. 2006. ISBN 8187330155.
* [http://www.usinfo.ru/afganbook1.htm Трагедия и доблесть Афгана.] Александр Ляховский. 1995. ISBN 5858440479. ru icon
* [http://www.afganvro.ru/uroki5.php "Восстание в тюрьме Бадабера."] - according to the newspaper "Pobratim", #6. 2005. ru icon
* [http://www.bbratstvo.org/index.php3?path=_jornal/2005/08&source=badaber Мятежные узники "Бадабера".] A. Korobov. "Boevoe bratstvo magazine", 2005. ru icon
* [http://www.bbratstvo.org/index.php3?path=_jornal/2006/02&source=respect "Мы чести воина не уронили".] B. Malorodov. "Boevoe bratstvo magazine", 2006. ru icon
* [http://ugo-osetia.ru/6.88/6.88-7.html "К подвигу всечасно не готовлясь, он был всечасно к подвигу готов".] E. Tibilova. "Yuzhnaya Osetiya magazine", October 7 2006. ru icon
* [http://nvo.ng.ru/wars/2004-02-13/7_afgan.html "Прокляты и забыты?"] A.Pochtaryov. "Nezavisimaya Gazeta", February 13 2004 ru icon