Sardar Akhtar Mengal hailing from Wadh, district Khuzdar, Balochistan, is one of the Baloch nationalist leaders and head of Balochistan National Party (BNP). He has two sons and one daughter. In Balochistan, his party had two seats. He served as Chief Minister (CM) of Balochistan.
He is among the Baloch Sardars highlighting the grievances of his province and had presented a six-point plan, when he was in exile in Dubai some years back, to address the injustices.
He has also been espousing the cause of Baloch’s missing persons and has given a fake figure of 6000. The actual figures are not more than 150 to 200. Most of the missing persons are part of the Baloch insurgent and separatist groups.
BNP has enjoyed a closer relationship with the Pakistan Muslim League, Nawaz (PMLN) because of Nawaz Sharif’s policy of appeasement. BNP bid farewell to the NS (abbreviation not known) coalition saying that its grieving points were not attended to, and it joined Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) in 2018. It left the PTI on similar grounds but joined Pakistan Democratic Movement, 1 (PDM 1) and then the current government.
BNP’s political standing was cut to size in the February 8 elections and Akhtar was the lone BNP member who could gain one seat in the National Assembly (NA). In Balochistan, his party is at the lowest rung and the presence in the Senate is insignificant.
With his diminished political clout, he didn’t figure out in the heated debates about the socio-economic inequities of his province. Achakzai, Fazlur Rehman, and some other Baloch leaders gained prominence.
Mengal couldn’t draw political mileage from the missing persons movement, spearheaded by Dr Mahrang, or the stepped-up terrorism.
It is now well known that Mahrang is sponsored by foreign powers. CM, Balochistan Sarfaraz Bugti, recently alleged that she was paid Rs 80 crore by India to play up the movement and to stage a sit-in at Gwadar. An audio leak was also recovered.
Her Yekjehti Council is the political face of the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA). Her father, who was killed by the security forces, was an active member of BLA. Quite many terrorists killed in the combat zone were found to be the so-called missing persons.
Some of the BLA arrested leaders like Shambe also revealed the whereabouts of the missing persons. BLA is most active in southwest SW Baluchistan where BNP influence is the strongest. However, Akhtar Mengal is not among hard-liner nationalist leaders and has been condemning the insurgents. His brother Javed Mengal and two nephews are deeply connected with BLA.
These revelations coupled with stepped-up operations by security forces against the Kharjis in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Balochistan, soon to start Operation Azm-e-Estehkam have scared the abettors, facilitators, and patrons of the militant groups.
After the dastardly attacks on 26 August that were claimed by the Majeed Brigade of BLA, the federal government, the Balochistan government, and the army have pledged to eliminate all the Kharjis and to root out terrorism.
Akhtar Mengal also found that sooner than later his role in abetting Lashkar Balochistan of Allah Nazar and Mahrang would be disclosed.
The gathering clouds impelled him to tender his resignation. This act of his suddenly turned the spotlight upon him and both the coalition government and the opposition started to cajole him and beseeched him to take back his resignation.
None had any love lost for him, but political expediency impelled them to win him over. Their efforts didn’t succeed and he flew to Dubai. He will return once the overall situation becomes conducive for him.
Until yesterday, hardly anyone had heard of Sardar Akhtar Mengal. Now, after he made a thinly veiled, outlandish statement against all the past government policies, in particular the army, his name continues to be splashed on all of YouTube channels as if driven by the same hidden hand. This is particularly interesting since nothing he said is original.
‘We need to get our facts right; first, Gwadar was never a part of Balochistan Province. It belonged to the Sultan of Oman who sold it to Pakistan in 1958.
Secondly, ethnic Balochs Balochis only form 40% of the total population of Balochistan Province. The rest are mainly Pashtuns, Sindhis, Punjabis, Brahuis, and Makranis, etc.
There are more ethnic Balochs in Sindh and Punjab than there are in Balochistan Province, where they are divided into more than eighty different tribes and subtribes. These too remain at loggerheads with each other over land, pasture, water, and other such issues.
To describe the recent pre-planned, systematic killings of innocent civilians as a struggle for independence, is a travesty based on ignorance. In the remote event, if it succeeds, its outcome can only be perpetual inter-tribal warfare.
We have to stop and think which sane person would prefer chaos, lawlessness, and anarchy over peace, security, and stability inside Pakistan.
As to the present situation, it too is the product of ignorance. The actual number of terrorists that are active in Balochistan, in their admission, is not more than one thousand, paid and supplied by the enemies of Pakistan (Please see Sarfraz Bangalzai on Mr. Safi’s program, ‘Jirga’). The figures could be stretched to 2000 or so and not more.
To suggest that these represent the wishes of all the Baloch people is a travesty especially when you consider that they too are divided into different uncoordinated groups.
If they have succeeded in creating a seemingly alarmist impression, it can be only for two reasons. The first of these is the gross ineptitude of the administrative machinery and its inability to anticipate and act on time.
Secondly, the dubious role played by our blind leading the blind media stalwarts in misinforming the people as to the reality and the true nature of the situation. That being so, whose purpose are they serving?
About the sharing of natural resources, the nearly completed Kachhi Canal will bring well over a million acres of barren land in Balochistan under cultivation with water from the River Indus.
By the same logic, why should the other three provinces continue to share this increasingly precious resource with Balochistan? In its absence, how will the latter feed its people?
The majority of its population is not ethnic Baloch. Don’t they have a say in these matters? Why should the media insist on presenting a few misguided and misinformed Sardars and naive, inexperienced youth as arbiters of the fate of the province and not the majority of its population?’
I reckon it is high time that we come out of the mantra of ‘grievances’, and balming their wounds. The 80 Sardars in Balochistan including Sardar Akhtar Mengal are part of the problem.
They have all along been at the helm of affairs in Balochistan. The Sardars of Bugti, Marri, Mengal, Raisani, and Jamali tribes have been mostly holding the prized seats of CM and Governor. The only time Balochistan progressed was when the province was under the army generals. The examples are that of Lt General Rahimuddin and General Musa Khan.
The Sardars are anti-development, anti-education, and anti-poor. Nawab Akbar Bugti had made the lives of Kalpar and Mesuri tribes residing in the Bugti region, and they were forced to flee to Kashmore. General Musharraf rehabilitated them.
The reason why he picked up arms against the state in 2004 was not the rape of a doctor, but the issue was the royalty of gas.
The three leading Sardars opposed General Musharraf’s development of interior Balochistan, they opposed General Ashfaq Kayani’s plan to establish education cities, cadet and technical colleges. They were against Gawadar Port and China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
They were more interested in collecting royalties than development. They have ruled their spheres of influence like a fiefdom and their tribes as slaves. All of them and their children are leading a king’s life. Each big Sardar has his own private militias and private jails.
Even those Sardars who are absconders are drawing heavy salaries from their paymasters to keep the separatist movement alive. It is they who have been singing the mantra of grievances. It is they who rule the province, promote corruption, finance terrorism, and are in league with smugglers and drug peddlers.
They ignore the fact that from 2009 onwards, Balochistan received the heaviest share of the annual budget. The federal government allotted an extra amount over and above the provincial share in addition to the royalty.
Even the army is funding the cadet technical colleges, and health units and is helping in road construction and other projects and have sacrificed their comforts and put their lives at stake to make Balochistan peaceful and prosperous. (Confusing)
The father of Sardar Akhtar Mengal had supported abolishing Sardari Nizam in Balochistan, which was the main cause of the backwardness of the province. It was not abolished by Bhutto. Neither the Waderas in Sindh were reined in. The power of Chaudhris in Punjab was cut to size by the vibrant middle class, and the Maliks in KP by the educated class.
Operation Azm-e-Istehkam should also take into account the Jagirdari system, the Wadera Shahi, and the Sardari system which have plagued the country and made Pakistan poor and dependent. Apart from physical terrorism, digital terrorism is a bigger threat and both complement each other. More steps are required to curtail disinfection and misinformation, as well as the cult culture that has infected the youth and led them astray.
The writer is retd Brig, war veteran, defence, security & political analyst, international writer, author of five books, patron-in-chief of CDS Think Tank, ex-chairman of TFP, Director of Measac Research Centre, takes part in TV talk shows
