Monitoring Desk: There is a cliché that Balochi sardars live lives of kings while their fellow tribesmen do not even have access to clean drinking water. Somehow or other, this is not so unfounded.
Nowadays, Sardar Akhtar Mengal is behaving as the voice of the Balochs. He is son of former chief minister Sardar Ataullah Mengal and the chieften of Mengal tribe. The lavish life he and his family are living can only be a wild dream for a common Pakistani living in urban society, and his fellow tribesmen cannot even dream of that. Having a cursory look at his properties can give an idea of how Nawabs and Sardars live their lives while using the joint and collective resources of their clans. Akhtar Mengal talks about the rights of the Baloch people, but his financial assets indicate that nobody in his clan would be poor in his clan if he shares only 50 percent of his assets with his fellow tribesmen.
Akhtar Mengal’s assets have seen a significant increase in the last few years. According to the assets declared in 2020, he had agricultural land (in Jatuni No. 1 to 51, PS 35, Waher Wadha) in the Khuzdar district of Balochistan, but its value was not determined, while in 2024, its estimated value was Rs 10 million. Similarly, 300 acres of land on Sakran Road in the Hub area, which is in the name of his son Gurgin Mengal, was declared with a value of Rs 1.5 million in 2020, which has increased to Rs 25.2 million in 2024.
His business assets have also increased significantly. In 2020, the value of his business assets was declared at Rs 2 million, which has increased to Rs 21.5 million in 2024. The value of non-commercial, industrial, and residential property in Chagai in his wife’s name was Rs 450,000 in 2020, which has increased to Rs 20 million in 2024. In addition, he declared the value of a flat in Dubai at Rs 11.95 million in 2020, which has increased to Rs 286.95 million in 2024. Similarly, the value of an apartment in 2020 was Rs 8 million, which has increased to Rs 50 million in 2024. All these figures show a phenomenal increase in his assets, which has been possible under various financial and property factors.
If we talk about Akhtar Mengal’s moveable assets, which include vehicles, cash, houses, investments, valuable antiques and other items, then the total value of Akhtar Mengal’s declared assets in 2020 was Rs 5.03 crore (50.32 million), while the estimated value of his current moveable assets in 2024 is Rs 36.18 crore (361.79 million), with a difference of Rs 31.15 crore (311.46 million).
His opponents claim that undeclared and contestable assets that Akhtar Mengal have include business and assets in the UK and Dubai, a hotel in the UK, hotel and a trading company in Dubai, an apartment in Diamond Mall and Residency in Islamabad, a bungalow in Mangho Pir, Karachi, a house in Khayaban Shamsher, Karachi, a house in Railway Station Quetta, a house in Wadh Khuzdar, 200 shops in Shah Noorani Khuzdar, a shop in Wadh Khuzdar are among his properties. It is also claimed that his assets include a partnership in Selen Exports and AKA Motors. These above-mentioned properties are allegedly of Mengal as no record is shown in his asset details.
Akhtar Mengal, being a tribal chief, has long dominated Balochistan politics, but he absolves himself by blaming the province’s deprivations solely on the federal government. Surprisingly, Akhtar Mengal and his family have been enjoying power by forming alliances with the federal government from time to time. Akhtar Mengal joined the PPP in 2008, the PML-N in 2013, the PTI in 2018, and the PDM in 2022 before resigning after joining the federal government in 2024.
