High drama grips DHA as Mengal’s house besieged

* Police cordon off his residence off Khayaban-e-Shamsheer

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By Abbas Naqvi

KARACHI: The residence of the chief of his own faction of the Balochistan National Party (BNP), Akhtar Mengal, was cordoned off by law enforcement agencies from about 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday morning leading to tension along Clifton’s Khayaban-e-Shamsheer and surrounding areas near the Sea View strip all day long.

Former Balochistan chief minister Ataullah Mengal told Daily Times that his son Akhtar Mengal accompanied his children to school in the morning as they had been receiving kidnapping threats recently. Akhtar Mengal and his guards noticed four men in plainclothes on two motorcycles following their car and intercepted them. Mengal’s guards managed to catch hold of three of the men but one of them escaped. Ataullah Mengal said that when the three men were taken back to the Mengal residence and asked who they were and what they were doing, they said that they were from the Military Intelligence (MI). “During this time, a large contingent of rangers, police and other law enforcement personnel arrived near the house and cordoned it off,” Ataullah Mengal said.

According to Ataullah Mengal, the three men were handed over to the police outside. In the meantime, Mengal said that the entire area was cordoned off and no one was allowed to enter or leave the house.

The police surrounded the immediate area around the house while rangers personnel spread out in the vicinity. Clifton Town police was called to the spot in addition to members from the police headquarters. The area was cordoned off till the filing of this report.

There were reports that Akhtar Mengal’s brother Javed’s house in DHA Phase VI was also surrounded.

Police sources said that the three intelligence officers who were handed over from the Mengal house were taken to JPMC for a medical examination as they had been beaten. Police sources said that legal requirements for the registration of an FIR had been completed and one is expected to be lodged late Wednesday night.

“All this that is happening in reaction to a rally that Akhtar lead in Quetta against the army operation in the province,” his father said. “The way they killed Gichki in jail, I’m afraid they’ll kill Akhtar too.”


Thursday, April 06, 2006

BNP reacts to police action, calls strike in province

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By Irfan Ali and Aziz Sanghur

KARACHI: The Balochistan National Party (BNP-Mengal faction) has called for a complete wheel-jam and shutdown strike in Balochistan on Thursday to protest the decision to cordon off the Karachi residence of BNP President Akhtar Mengal on Wednesday.

“Sindh Home Minister Rauf Siddiqui told us that he has no knowledge of the decision to cordon off Mr Mengal’s bungalow,” Rauf Mengal, an MNA from Balochistan belonging to the BNP told reporters after his meeting with the home minister.

Rauf Mengal and BNP MPAs of Balochistan Akbar Mengal and Akhtar Langu reached the house at 31st street, Khayaban-e-Shamsheer, DHA Phase V, but were not allowed to go inside.

Langu told reporters that Akhtar Mengal’s children had been followed for some days. “Four people followed their vehicle on the way to school in the morning. Akhtar asked his guards to get hold of them. They overpowered two of them while two managed to escape,” Langu said.

Langu claimed that Mengal’s guards thrashed the two people as they appeared to be common criminals who wanted to harm the children. “After they were thrashed, they told [Mengal’s guards] that they belonged to an intelligence agency,” Langu said. “Therefore, they were handed over to the police and within half an hour, the police had cordoned off the bungalow,” he claimed.

Langu alleged that cordoning off the bungalow was aimed at harassing Akhtar Mengal in response to the ongoing campaign being run by Baloch parties against the federal government.

“Akhtar Mengal told us that he would offer himself up for arrest if an FIR of the Wednesday incident were registered. Police told us, however, that no FIR was registered; then why did they cordon off the house?” Rauf Mengal asked.

Rauf Mengal said that the chief minister of Sindh was on a Multan tour and the governor of Sindh was attending a meeting hence contact could not be established with them over the matter.

The BNP MNA and MPAs from Balochistan considered the decision to cordon off the bungalow a pretext to take action against Baloch nationalists.

The BNP’s local officials and workers also had gathered near the bungalow but no one was allowed to enter the house nor were people inside allowed to come out. No water supply to the bungalow was allowed either, according to the BNP leaders.