Editorial: Raisani-Mengal meeting in Wadh

An unexpected but a very significant meeting took place between Balochistan chief minister Nawab Mohammad Aslam Raisani and veteran Baloch nationalist leader Sardar Attaullah Mengal on Saturday at latter’s residence in Wadh, Khuzdar district. Limited details of the meeting were very cautiously issued to the media by both the sides as they insisted that it should be treated as a meeting of between two prominent tribal elders not politicians. They also insisted that Raisani had not called on Mengal, who served as the first chief minister of Balochistan in 1971, as a head of the Balochistan government.  Likewise, Mengal spoke to Raisani not as the patron-in-chief of the Balochistan National Party (BNP) but as a seasoned politician whom Raisani admires for his political sagacity.

Regardless of the agenda of the meeting, Friday’s visit by CM Raisani to Sardar Mengal is indeed a major breakthrough in the government efforts to reconcile with the Baloch leaders. It was the first time in two years that Raisani met Sardar Mengal. No doubt, Mengal is the most influential living Baloch leader along with Nawab Khair Baksh Marri. He has had an illustrious career of political struggle for the rights of Balochistan. Mengal played a pivotal role in the struggle against the infamous One Unit. After the 1970 generation elections, he was elected as the first chief minister of Balochistan on the platform of the erstwhile National Awami Party (NAP). The Balochs delightedly billed Mengal’s government as their ‘own’ government. Unfortunately, the then prime minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto snubbed the Baloch mandate and dismissed Mengal’s government.

Attaullah Mengal was put into jail along with his governor Ghose Baksh Bizenjo, Nawab Khair Baksh Marri and Gul Khan Nasir in Hayderabad jail for several years. In addition, a young son of his, Asadullah Mengal, and his friend Ahmed Shah were allegedly whisked away by the security forces. Mengal never learnt about the whereabouts of his missing son nor was the dead body of his Asadullah ever recovered. Since then, his followers have been subjected to repressive treatment of the establishment.

General Pervez Musharraf publicly mentioned Sardar Mengal, Nawab Khair Baksh Marri and late Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti as “the only anti-development sardars of Balochistan”. The former military dictator said every tribal chief in Balochistan supported him except for the three recalcitrant Baloch nationalist leaders. In fact, it was these three leaders who had overwhelming popularity among the people of Balochistan. Otherwise, only the freelance opportunist sardars backed Musharraf.

Prior to Musharraf’s takeover and the subsequent military operation in Balochistan, Mengal’s Balochistan National Party (BNP), the largest party of the province, stood for maximum provincial autonomy for the provinces. In an interview with Lahore-based The Friday Times, Mengal said his party wanted the federal government to devolve powers to the federating units by only controlling three subjects: Defense, foreign affairs and currency. The BNP moved a step further and adopted a hardliner approach after the killing of Nawab Bugti. It was the only party that resigned from all of its seats in the parliament. Later on, BNP’s president and Attaullah’s son, Sardar Akhtar Mengal, who became the chief minister of Balochistan in 1997, was detained in a Karachi jail where the senior Mengal charged the government of attempting to poison and kill his son. The junior Mengal was released by the Pakistan People’s Party government by dint of Nawab Raisani’s efforts.

BNP lost faith in the country’s political system to such an extent that it boycotted the general elections of February 2008. Moving a step further, the BNP now began to ask for the ‘right of self-determination’ for Balochistan against its previous demand of provincial autonomy while remaining within the federation of Pakistan. Currently, another key demand of the BNP is inclusion of foreign mediators, preferably the United Nations or the European Union, in any proposed dialogue with the government of Pakistan.

One finds it very strange when political leaders tell the media that they discussed everything in their meeting except politics.

A similar impression was given by the khan of Kalat Mir Suleman Daoowd when he was met by Governor of Balochistan Nawab Zulfiqar Ali Magsi last year. In an interview with Samandar Askani of Sweden-based Balochi Radio Gwank, Dawood admitted having hosted the Balochistan governor for around five hours. He said he had discussed everything with Magi but not politics. Why not? No one knows.

Meeting Sardar Mengal must be a big accomplishment of Nawab Raisani as he had been struggling to use his influence as a towering tribal chief to hold talks with Baloch leaders who matter in the conflict. The BNP is shying away from disclosing the details of the meeting because it believes time is not rife to meet government representatives as many Balochs think the PPP has not completely undone the policies initiated by Pervez Musharraf.

Even held in a tribal capacity, the meeting between Nawab Raisani and Sardar Mengal is a welcome development. They should keep meeting each other to discuss all issues, including political, because political issues need political solutions. No matter how they identify themselves –as tribal elders or political leaders – , Nawab Raisani and Sardar Mengal should seriously debate on the issues of Balochistan and the problems faced by the masses on the economic, social, political and cultural fronts.

He hope Nawab Raisani will also approach Nawab Khair Baksh Marri to hear his point of view as well. Similarly, Nawbzada Bramdagh Bugti should also be approached and dealt with respect. These are the real popular and influential people of Balochistan. The government must not snub these leaders. They should be contacted , their grievances and demands should be heard patiently. Nawab Raisani can surely play this important role by starting meeting the key Baloch leaders in his ‘tribal capacity’. If ‘tribal meetings’ lead to developing mutual trust, political issues will gradually be discussed in the subsequent phases of such interactions.