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months after the 1997 general elections. The BNP did very well in those elections and emerged the single largest
party but split in its ranks and lack of unity among Baloch nationalists caused its downfall and it could bag only
two provincial assembly seats in the 2002 polls.

The case in which Akhtar Mengal has been acquitted concerned an ARD public meeting held last summer in
Quetta to condemn Nawab Akbar Bugti's death in a military operation in August. He and several other politicians
from his and other nationalist parties had made fiery speeches on that occasion and were booked. The BNP
senior vice-president Sajid Tareen and secretary-general Habib Jalib Baloch too were booked along with Senator
Amanullah Kanrani of Bugti's Jamhoori Watan Party (JWP). The last-named subsequently made up with the
government, bitterly criticised Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry after he was sidelined from his job by
President General Pervez Musharraf, and got rewarded with the job of additional advocate-general of Balochistan.

It is worth recalling that Akhtar Mengal's BNP was the most vocal in condemning Bugti's death. In the
abovementioned Quetta public meeting, he suddenly announced that his party's one MNA Rauf Mengal, and two
MPAs Akhtar Hussain Lango and Mohammad Akbar Mengal would resign to protest Bugti's killing. Another cause
of these resignations according to him was the powerlessness of the assemblies to prevent such extra-judicial
killings of the Baloch and grant the rights of the Baloch people.

Akhtar Mengal's dramatic announcement was widely cheered and it was hoped that other Baloch nationalist
parties would follow suit and quit the parliament and the Balochistan Assembly. But nothing of the sort happened
and even lawmakers belonging to Bugti's JWP failed to resign to protest their leader's killing. The JWP
subsequently split into two factions and some of its stalwarts joined the ruling PML-Q.

It appears that the BNP has gained in stature and support following those resignations. Akhtar Mengal's arrest
and his maltreatment at the hands of the government also seem to have augmented the party's support base.
The party has also emerged as the most steadfast and vocal defender of Baloch rights. In fact, Akhtar Mengal
was arrested while heading to Gwadar as part of BNP's 'long march' against Bugti's killing, disappearance of
Baloch political workers, and some of the mega project such as Gwadar seaport which according to Baloch
nationalist parties were primarily meant to benefit other people and turn the Baloch into a minority in their own
province. In case of free and fair elections and a level playing field, the BNP could improve upon its poor electoral
performance in the 2002 polls.

As for the background of the remaining case against Akhtar Mengal, there are as usual different versions
presented by his supporters and those of the government. BNP members and sympathisers claim four men on
motorbikes used to follow the vehicle that transported Akhtar Mengal's children to school and he personally drove
them there one day to find out the identity of the pursuers. His five bodyguards reportedly got hold of two of these
men as the other two managed to escape, brought them to Akhtar Mengal's home and thrashed them.

The two turned out to be MI agents and soon military and police officers reached Akhtar Mengal's home to rescue
them. Siege was laid to the house and it was lifted only after Akhtar Mengal freed the two MI agents and agreed to
hand over his five bodyguards to the authorities. An assurance from Sindh chief minister Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim
helped persuade Akhtar Mengal to deliver his bodyguards to the government. However, the bodyguards were
tried, convicted and imprisoned for life. The military was obviously angry that its men were illegally detained in a
private home and tortured. It couldn't allow its soldiers to be treated in such an abrasive manner and its authority
to be challenged.

That also explains the subsequent arrest of Akhtar Mengal and the unusually harsh treatment meted out to him in
jail. No doubt he once served as chief minister and is presently head of an important political party of Balochistan.
But anyone challenging the military's authority in a country presently being ruled by the chief of army staff General
Musharraf should think many times before daring to do so. Bugti paid with his life for committing this mistake by
picking up the gun to fight the armed forces. Akhtar Mengal has launched a verbal assault only on the military and
his punishment is imprisonment for an uncertain period in tough prison conditions.

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Though there could be nothing more serious than being accused of treason, the remaining case that he is
facing is far more critical in nature. Chances are that it would take him a while to absolve himself of any
wrong-doing in that case and regain his freedom. A political change in the country would be his best bet to come
out of jail because the case concerns the all-powerful military establishment. In fact, even a change in
government may not help him much considering the perennial grip of the country's armed forces on the various
levers of power.

Akhtar Mengal in this case has been charged with abduction and torture of two Military Intelligence (MI) officials.
Five of his bodyguards who allegedly committed the act were also charged in the case and have already been
convicted to life imprisonment by an Anti-Terrorist Court. They have gone in appeal but its outcome and duration
of the hearings is anybody's guess.

The seriousness of the case against Akhtar Mengal, who is in his early 40s, could be judged from the fact that
the hearings of the Ant-Terrorist Court take place inside the Landhi prison in Karachi. Syed Iqbal Haider, a
former law minister in the PPP government and a top official of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan,
alleged that Akhtar Mengal was made to stand in a iron cage during the initial hearing of his case. He was right
as this fact was corroborated by others also. Subsequently, some relaxations were allowed as the story of the
caged Baloch nationalist leader was making the rounds and further inflaming the sentiments of the already
angry younger generation of Baloch people. The issue was also highlighted at various political and social
forums and had caused embarrassment to the government.

This is not to say that Akhtar Mengal is now leading a comfortable
life in prison. Visitors are still not allowed and even former
lawmakers from his party were refused permission to meet him
in jail. Strict watch is kept on him inside the prison. His old and
ailing father Sardar Attaullah Mengal is too proud to even apply for
permission to see Akhtar Mengal. He has shifted from Karachi,
where the family has been living since long, to his ancestral
village, Wadh, in Balochistan to look after tribal affairs and
strengthen its bonds with Mengal tribe.

There is no doubt that the Mengals are one of the most influential
political families of Balochistan. Along with the late Jam Ghulam
Qadir of Lasbela and his son and present chief minister Jam
Mohammad Yousaf, Sardar Attaullah Mengal and Akhtar Mengal
have the distinction of being the first father-son duo to serve as
chief minister of a province in Pakistan. It is another matter that
the Attaullah Mengal-led NAP-JUI coalition government in
Balochistan lasted only nine months in the early 1970s before it
was sent packing by the then prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.
Akhtar Mengal as chief minister of another coalition government
dominated by Baloch nationalist parties remained in office for 14