BNP founder Sardar Ataullah Mengal laid to rest in Wadh
A large number of people, including politicians, tribal elders and party workers, offer funeral prayers for the departed soul in Wadh. PHOTO: EXPRESS
The first chief minister of Balochistan and the founder of Balochistan National Party Sardar Ataullah Mengal was laid to rest in his ancestral town of Wadh in Khuzdar district on Friday.
The veteran politician had passed away at the age of 92 on September 2 after a brief illness. He was hospitalized in Karachi.
Mengal’s funeral prayers were held earlier in the afternoon at the cricket stadium named after his eldest son Asad Shaheed.
His sons Sardar Akhtar Jan Mengal, Sardar Asadullah Khan Mengal, Sardarzada Mir Gurgain Mengal, BNP Central Vice President Wali Kakar, Sajid Tareen Advocate, Balochistan Awami Party Central Leader Sardar Saleh Muhammad Bhootani, Interior Minister Mir Ziaullah Langau, Awami National Party Central Leader Asghar Achakzai, Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party Central Leader Dr Hamid Khan Achakzai, Pakistan People’s Party Central Leader Qadir Patel, Agha Rafiullah Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Central Secretary General Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri, Justice (retd) Abdul Qadir Mengal along with other senior politicians and tribal elders attended the funeral.
The BNP has announced a 40-day mourning period. A complete strike was observed in the town of Wadh. Born in 1929, Mengal spent his childhood in Balochistan’s Lasbela and later moved to Karachi. He was declared the chief of the Mengal tribe in 1954.
Mengal was introduced to politics by Mir Ghaus Bakhsh Bizenjo, a founding member of the National Awami Party (NAP) -- who also briefly served as the governor of Balochistan in 1972-73.
In 1962, Mengal was elected to West Pakistan’s provincial assembly. Bizenjo ran his election campaign. Mengal was put behind bars for opposing then military dictator Ayub Khan’s rule.
He went on to become the first chief minister of Balochistan in May 1972. Mengal remained in that position until his government was dismissed by then prmier Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in February 1973.
Mengal and then governor Bizenjo were jailed on charges of involvement in armed rebellion. However, the charges were never proved and Mengal went into self-exile in the UK during Gen Ziaul Haq's era.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 4th, 2021.