History of Baloch itself is witness of their bravery. But besides bravery, Baloch are well-known for their Tribal culture and traditions. In the same way, when life became tough for the Baloch living in Iran owing to the atrocities of Muhammad Reza Shah and the tribal chiefs, Dad Shah thus picked up guns against them. He along with his brothers and Sister, Bibi Mahatun, and few friends went to mountains to fight against atrocious reign of Shah and cruel tribal chiefs.
Dad Shah, who was basically a farmer in the village of Nillag in the province of Sistan-O-Balochistan, Iran, was born in 1919. His father’s and mother’s names were Kamal and Hathun respectively. He had three siblings: two brothers, Ahmad Shah and Mohammad Shah, and a sister, named Mahathun. Dad Shah married Noorhathun, who was the daughter of Pir Dad, one of his close relatives. They were living a happy life in their small world.
If we open the pages of history, we will find that the resistance of Baloch in Iran came as a result of repression on the Baloch. Baloch believed that Reza Shah was suppressing their culture in Iran. Similarly, the basic reason of the resistance of Dad Shah was the calumny that he received as a result of an appalling plot of Ali Khan, who was the enemy of Dad Shah. Ali Khan Killed his cousin, Ayub Khan to hold his power in maximum areas. Thus people in his vicinities went against him and didn’t accept him as the ruler of their areas.
Dad Shah’s family was also against him and wanted to take the revenge of Ayub Khan since his father was a great supporter of his. In 1944, Kamal, who was the father of Dad Shah, along with his sons and some other friends, attacked the fort of Ali Khan. Some of the persons of Mir Ali Khan were killed.
Finding Dad Shah and his family his bloody enemies, Ali Khan wanted to drag his name through the mire by planning some tricky plots. He along with Abdul Nabi, who became the enemy of Dad Shah later, planned a plot to send Laluk to steal the gun of Dad Shah, which could be a cause of the calumny for Dad Shah since he had a great honor for his weapon and never let anybody touch it. Laluk did what he was told. But it was unfortunate for him that he was captured red handed by Dad Shah. Laluk told the whole story behind his guilt as he tried to prove himself guiltless. Unfortunately, when Mir Ali and Abdul Nabi found that Dad Shah had become aware of their plot, they spread unexpected word in public that Laluk had unfair relationship with his wife, which was completely untrue and unbearable to Dad Shah. To remove the calumny that he received from Mir Ali, he killed his wife and went to mountain to revenge Mir Ali as it became a matter of shame for Dad Shah to sit silent.
He started attacking the persons of Mir Ali. Finding him a hurdle in his way of ruling, Ali Khan took the help of the army and requested Shah to fight against him, saying that Dad Shah could be a hurdle for his reign. Shah accepted his request and sent army to his area. On the other hand, Dad Shah received support from Muheem Khan Lashari and Essa Khan Mubaraki to fight against Mir Ali Khan since they were the bloody enemy of his.
After a short period, when Rahim Dad, a companion of Dad Shah, was killed by the puppets of the Shah near Pannuch, Dad Shah sent a letter to the Sardars and other authorities of Pannuch, saying that he had accepted some their conditions, but they hadn’t honored their promise by killing his close companion; he would take the revenge of Rahim Dad and there would not be any Pannuchi, who would survive in front of the bullets of his gun. Right after this message, Dad Shah attacked Mulla Nawab, who was the arch rival of his. Two persons of Mullah Nawab were killed in the conflict. In the meantime, eight more people were killed in ‘Dihan’, people blamed Dad Shah and his companions for the killings, but actually the killers were not known. Because of these killings, Sarwan Khalil Khan Rigi, who was leading the army to handle the situations of Pannuch, was called by the government and was made humiliated for he couldn’t handle the situation. Sarwan Rigi wanted to remove the black mark that he got by the government; therefore, he planned a plot by sending a message to Dad Shah, stating that he had talked to the government for mending fence in the area. He asked Dad Shah for sending some of his friends to get the proposal confirmed. Dad Shah still wanted peace in those areas; therefore, he sent four of his colleagues- Rustum, Pirdad, Abdul and Murad to Sarwan Khalil. But Dad Shah wasn’t aware of the conspiracy of Khalil Rigi. By reaching there, they were arrested as Khalil conspired
Right after this incident, a conflict began between Dad Shah and Zhandar Mari’s army at the “Barchik” check post in the mountains. Two soldiers of Dad Shah were killed. From there, Dad Shah went to Pakistani Balochistan.
Sarwan Rigi faced failure in every step that he took against Dad Shah; therefore, he requested the government to increase the number of the arm forces as well as the weapons; and he also requested to give arms to chiefs of Lashsari and Mubaraki so that they could better handle the situations of the areas. The government accepted the request and provided weapons to the chiefs of Lashari and Mubaraki tribes; but the fact is that Dad Shah had never attacked their areas (Chaamp and Ahuran). It was a political plot of Khalil Rigi as he wanted the army to go to the mentioned areas for the recovery of weapons of the Baloch in order that they must not be able to go against the Shah. The trick worked, soon the weapons were recovered.
In 1955, the Shah of Iran, Muhammad Reza Shah went to Pharag (Iranshahr) for a visit. Essa Khan Mubaraki didn’t want the citizens of his area to meet Shah; however, they sent a letter to the Shah. They mentioned that Essa Khan Mubaraki and Muheem Khan Lashari were the supporters of Dad Shah; as a result, Shah called Essa and Muheem and asked them about Dad Shah, and ordered them to bring the episode of the insurgency of Dad Shah to a close as soon as possible. They were also taken into custody but Muheem Khan was released right after two days. Muheem Khan and Essa Khan became fully aware of the situation; therefore, with broken hearts, they raised hands towards Zhandar Mari for friendship to fight against Dad Shah.
Moreover, on 26th of March 1957, three Americans along with two Iranians were killed in ‘Tanksarha’, in Iranian Balochistan, which drew the attention of the Iranians and the Americans towards Dad Shah as the Iranian blamed Dad Shah for killing three Americans (Kevin Karl, Anita Karl, and Wilson). Many Iranian writers wrote that on 24th of March 1957, Dad Shah along with his twenty four companions killed the Americans when they were on the way to Chahbar. The Iranian newspapers and writers tried to prove Dad Shah a ‘terrorist’. And they got succeeded. Americans also dubbed him a terrorist. American and Iranian governments announced a huge amount of money as reward for his head. At the same time Iranian and Pakistani government agreed to fight jointly against Dad Shah.
In 1957, a conflict broke out between Dad Shah and Iranian forces near the border of Pakistan Balochistan. In this war, young son of Dad Shah was assassinated and his sister got injured. From there, Ahmed Shah with his sister and children left them and went to ‘Hung’ to take harbor in a house. Unfortunately, they were arrested by the Pakistani forces right after reaching there and they were handed over to Iran.
As a result of this act of Pakistani government, a sense of anger emerged among Baloch, which later made the government realize the mistake it had made. For the fear of nationalism in Pakistani Balochistan, the government of Pakistan declared that it had no role to arrest Dad Shah any longer. When Dad Shah came to know that his brother and sister along with children had been arrested and handed over to Iran, the anger of his grew higher for his enemies; he went to Iran to face his enemies. Right after reaching there, he attacked the house of Din Muhammad, one of his enemies, where his children got injured.
Mir Dad Shah continued his struggle against the Shah though he had an army of not more than thirty to forty. However, it is said that war is never won by weapons and armies, wining a war depends on the faith of those fighters who are struggling and fighting for a purpose. The purpose of Dad Shah was to fight for his honor and later for the people of Balochistan against the reign of Shah of Iran. The very reason made him so brave that he stood in front of thousands. The courageous army of Dad Shah killed hundreds of Iranian army; but, at last, the struggle of the brave warrior of Baloch came to an end as he was deceived by the tribal chief Mir Muheem Khan by calling him for negotiation for releasing his brother Ahmad Shah.
As mentioned before that Dad Shah enjoyed a good patronage from Muheem Khan while fighting against Mir Ali. Therefore, Dad Shah considered Muheem Khan his friend and never expected that he would be deceived by him. But, alas! On a rainy day of October 1957, Dad Shah along with his brother, Mohammad Shah, and some other companions went to ‘Hashth Koh’ to receive his brother as Muheem Khan had lied that his brother, Ahmad Shah had been released as a result of the negotiation between Muheem Khan and the government. While reaching there, Dad Shah realized that Muheem Khan had lied as his brother was not with them. With anger, he asked for his brother. Muheem Khan replied him that Ahmad Shah was not feeling well; therefore, they couldn’t bring him there. In the meantime, the altercation started between them. During the argument, Muheem Khan took his gun out and fired at Dad Shah, thus the valor slept forever and left thousands of Baloch to ponder over the atrocities rendered them adversity.
