Akhtar Mengal (born 6 October 1962) is a politician from Balochistan who is the chairman of

Balochistan National Party (Mengal) The Balochistan National Party or Balochistan National Party (Mengal) (Urdu: بلوچستان نيشنل پارٹی ; ) is a political party in Balochistan, Pakistan. BNP believes in more provincial rights and greater autonomy for Baluchistan prov ...

. He previously served as the

Chief Minister of Balochistan The Chief Minister of Balochistan ( ur, وزیر اعلیٰ بلوچستان) is the head of government of the Pakistani province of Balochistan. The chief minister leads the legislative branch of the provincial government, and is elected by the ...

between 1997 and 1998 and later he served as a member of the

Balochistan Provincial Assembly The Provincial Assembly of Balochistan is a unicameral legislature of elected representatives of the Pakistani province of Balochistan, and is located in Quetta, the provincial capital. It was established under Article 106 of the Constitution of ...

. Mengal currently serves as a member of

National Assembly of Pakistan The National Assembly ( ur, , translit=Aiwān-e-Zairīñ, , or ur, قومی اسمبلی, Romanization, romanized: ''Qaumi Assembly'') is the lower house, lower legislative house of the bicameralism, bicameral Parliament of Pakistan, which al ...

since August 2018.

Early life

Mengal was born on 6 October 1962 in Wadh Balochistan to the former

Ataullah Mengal Ataullah Mengal (; 24 March 1929 – 2 September 2021) was a Pakistani politician and feudal figure. He was the head of the Mengal tribe until he nominated one of his grandsons, Sardar Asad Ullah Mengal, as his tribal successor. He was also the ...

. Mengal has a son, Gurgain Mengal and a daughter, Banari Mengal.

Political career

Mengal came to

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

after ending his self exile in

Dubai Dubai (, ; ar, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 emirates of the United Arab Emirates.The Government and Politics of ...

on 25 March 2013 after four years to participate in 2013 election. The party only has two seats in the 51 member

provincial assembly Provincial may refer to: Government & Administration * Provincial capitals, an administrative sub-national capital of a country * Provincial city (disambiguation) * Provincial minister (disambiguation) * Provincial Secretary, a position in Can ...

. One is Mengal's and the other is Hamal Kalmati, who represents

Gwadar Gwadar ( Balochi/ ur, ) is a port city with located on the southwestern coast of Balochistan, Pakistan. The city is located on the shores of the Arabian Sea opposite Oman. Gwadar is the 100th largest city of Pakistan, according to the 2017 ...

. Two candidates of the BNP, Esa Noori and Raouf Mengal, won national assembly seats from the

Makran Makran ( fa, مكران), mentioned in some sources as Mecran and Mokrān, is the coastal region of Baluchistan. It is a semi-desert coastal strip in Balochistan, in Pakistan and Iran, along the coast of the Gulf of Oman. It extends westwards, ...

coastal region and

Khuzdar Khuzdar ( Brahui/ bal, ; ur, , ), historically known as Qusdar ( ar, قصدار, quṣdār), is the capital city of Khuzdar District in the central part of Balochistan Province, Pakistan. Khuzdar is the 2nd-largest city of Balochistan provin ...

, respectively. He took an oath as a member of

on 13 August 2018.

Arrest and release

Akhtar Mengal was arrested in September 2006, along with around 700 other political workers, in a government crackdown in Balochistan. He was held because he was planning a long march against

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

Pervez Musharraf General Pervez Musharraf ( ur, , Parvez Muśharraf; born 11 August 1943) is a former Pakistani politician and four-star general of the Pakistan Army who became the tenth president of Pakistan after the successful military takeover of the ...

's military rule. Mengal was released on May 9, 2008 and all charges against him were dropped by the

Government of Sindh The Government of Sindh ( sd, حڪومت سنڌ) ( ur, ) is the provincial government of the province of Sindh, Pakistan. Its powers and structure are set out in the provisions of the 1973 Constitution, in which 30 Districts of 7 Divisions u ...

. The

Balochistan government The Government of Balochistan ( ur, ) is the provincial government of the largest Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Balochistan, Pakistan in Quetta. The head of the province is the Governor, who is nominated by the President of Paki ...

withdrew all cases, including those of

sedition Sedition is overt conduct, such as speech and organization, that tends toward rebellion against the established order. Sedition often includes subversion of a constitution and incitement of discontent toward, or insurrection against, estab ...

, against Mengal. On 25 March 2013, Mengal returned to

from

to take part in

general elections A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

on 11 May 2013.

Uneasy relationship with the Baloch insurgency

Akhtar Mengal has been historically criticised by the Baloch insurgents as well as the security establishment. In his interview in 2013, he lamented that, “The Baloch militants consider me a traitor while the security establishment also treats me as an enemy." He is an elder of various such influential families who have their members on both sides of the political divide. Currently a part of the

Pakistan Democratic Movement The Pakistan Democratic Movement ( ur, پاکستان ڈیموکریٹک موومنٹ), or PDM, is a coalition of political parties in Pakistan. It was founded in September 2020 as a movement against then prime minister Imran Khan, accusing his ...

(a 13 party coalition currently in power at the

Federal Federal or foederal (archaic) may refer to: Politics General *Federal monarchy, a federation of monarchies *Federation, or ''Federal state'' (federal system), a type of government characterized by both a central (federal) government and states or ...

level), the association of his brother and nephews with 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 ...

has long been an obstacle to his entry in the mainstream national politics. Javed Mengal (brother) and Nooruddin Mengal and Bhawal Mengal (nephews) have allegedly been involved in armed militancy in the rest province of Balochistan. However, Akhtar Mengal has condemned the insurgents and publicly called for a political solution to the myriad problems in the province.

References

External links

"The Man in the Iron Cage""Nawaz's mistake"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mengal, Akhtar Living people 1962 births Baloch nationalists Balochistan MPAs 1997–1999 Pakistani MNAs 2018–2023 Chief Ministers of Balochistan, Pakistan Aitchison College alumni People of the insurgency in Balochistan Balochistan National Party (Mengal) MNAs

Akhtar Akhtar ( fa, links=no, ) means "star" in Persian. It is a unisex name. It is also a common surname. A variant spelling is Akhter. Notable people with the given name or surname include: Given name Akhtar * Akhtar Aly Kureshy Pakistani lawyer ...

Pakistani prisoners and detainees Balochistan MPAs 2013–2018 Leaders of the Opposition in the Provincial Assembly of Balochistan