UK-born male chauvinist cousins allegedly enforce disappearance of dynamic Baloch woman leader Banari Mengal face from public sphere
Banari Mengal has all the attributes of a great woman leader but her two male chauvinist cousins, Noorullah and Bhawal, created a storm over her picture from a London party and forced purdah on her.
Real picture of SOAS-educated Banari Mengal during a video interview.
Imagine a countryside where less than two percent of women are literate.
Welcome to France-sized Balochistan in southwest Asia, the land with the world’s lowest women literacy rate and highest rate of killing of women in the name of honor.
Briton Noordin Mengal, former leader of the Unrepresented Nation and People’s Organization (UNPO), created a storm on seeing picture of Banari Mengal at a London party.
In this backdrop, when a girl from a feudal family from Wadh obtains her bachelor’s of law from the University of East Anglia and her Master’s in Asian politics from the School of Oriental Studies, London, and who is passionate about social and political issues emerges, you would assume she would rise to the level of women leaders from the neighboring Sindh and Punjab provinces.
Sindh produced the Daughter of the East, Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto, who was twice premier of Pakistan. Punjab produced the present chief minister, Maryam Nawaz Sharif, who might in the future become the prime minister of Pakistan.
Briton Bhawal Mengal, also an advocate for free Balochistan, like elder brother was livid to see Banari Mengal picture in which she was sitting at a party.
However, God-forsaken Balochistan has a different story. Banari Mengal public debut was blocked allegedly by her two male cousins, Noordin Mengal and Bhawal Mengal, both Britons, who are champions of a free Balochistan.
Baloch insiders say the two brothers saw Banari Mengal’s picture sitting at a London party and created a storm over it, forcing the dynamic woman leader into complete purdah.
Queries sent to London-based Noordin Mengal and his father Javed Mengal, a former Pakistani senator, who Pakistan authorities say heads the militant Lashkar-I-Balochistan, to seek their view on the matter were not responded until the filing of this report.
Banari Mengal is co-founder along with Sikandar Bizenjo of the Baloch Youth Action Committee. The BYAC gained world attention when Bill Gates mentioned the organization in his book “How to prevent the next pandemic.” Mr Bizenjo did not answer a question sent to him about Ms Mengal’s strict purdah, which puts even Bushra Bibi, wife of jailed premier Imran Khan to shame.
Ms Mengal is daughter of Sardar Akhtar Mengal and grand daughter of Sardar Attaullah Mengal, both former chief ministers of Balochistan. Mengals are among Baloch 200 tribes that live in their divided homeland named after them Balochistan, which means land of the Baloch. A New Mexico size territory is in Pakistan, Nevada-size land is in Iran and West Virginia size territory is Afghanistan.
A bloody secessionist movement is underway in Pakistan-occupied Balochistan. On Tuesday the Baloch Liberation Army (B.L.A.) said it carried out what it called “a meticulously planned operation in Mashkaf, Dhadar, Bolan, where our freedom fighters have blown up the railway track, forcing the Jaffar Express to come to a halt. The fighters swiftly took control of the train, holding all passengers hostage.”
A spokesman for the B.L.A. issued a warning Tuesday that if “the occupying forces attempt any military operation, the consequences will be severe. All hundreds of hostages will be executed, and the responsibility for this bloodshed will lie solely with the occupying forces.” Dawn newspaper reported 13 militants were killed when the military launched an operation to free the hostages. Two days earlier, the militants were said to have taken over the remote town of Ornach to the delight and clapping of the local tribesmen and children.
Ms Mengal’s maternal grandfather Aslam Gichki, a former guerilla leader and member of the nobility from Mekran, was assassinated in a politically motivated tribal dispute. Nawab Bhai Haan, the Gichki chieftain— a friend of this writer’s late dad— were among a handful of folks who were misled and bribed by Pakistan founder Mohammed Ali Jinnah that the new country Pakistan was good for the Baloch in 1948.
Another faceless picture of Banari Mengal.
Ms Mengal’s father, Sardar Akhtar Mengal, also heads the Balochistan National Party and was put in a cage during the military regime of Gen Pervez Musharraf, earning the title Baloch Nelson Mandela.
Central Information Secretary of the Balochistan National Party, Agha Hasan Baloch— a former federal minister— reached on the phone in Quetta, explained the reasons why Banari Mengal has never been seen in public. “She is simply a housewife and her involvement is limited to posts on social media.” The B.N.P. spokesperson said he would get back why the U.K. educated young woman, daughter of his party chief, was in complete purdah.
Sardar Akhtar Mengal with Congressman Brad Sherman during a U.S. visit in 2017.
However, the Linked In profile of the Baloch woman leader tells a different story. “My multifaceted interests converge with a singular goal: to contribute meaningfully to the betterment of Baloch women. Whether through grassroots activism, legal advocacy, or entrepreneurial endeavors, I am driven by a profound sense of purpose and a steadfast commitment to fostering positive change in our community and beyond.”
Baloch intellectual Abid Mir said he tried to ask the leaders of the B.N.P. about Ms Mengal’s purdah
Banari Mengal did challenge the established Baloch feudal norms where a girl is married against her wishes, mostly to a cousin, by marrying her SOAS sweet heart from Attock in the Punjab province, Malik Mohammad Shamsher Aslam. Attock, along with Chakwal, Jhelum and Rawalpindi form what is called the Potohar region.
Potohar is the area that produces Pakistan military generals with whom the Mengals had been at odds for more than half century now. Banari Mengal’s eldest uncle Asadullah Mengal was one of the first victims of enforced disappearances at the hands of military spooks and his body was never found.
Banari Mengal’s SOAS sweetheart Malik Mohammad Shamsher Aslam.
The tying of nuptial knots took place with fanfare in Dubai. Former senator and member of national and provincial assembly, Sana Baloch, confirmed on the phone he attended the wedding. Mr Aslam is son of Malik Amin Aslam, an environmentalist who was special assistant to former premier Imran Khan on climate change.
Political opponents of Sardar Akhtar Mengal close to the Deep State, like half Thai Nawabzada Jamal Raisani whose Thai heritage seem to have been ridiculed by Mengal, poked fun back at him. Raisani said Mengal publicly attacks the Punjabis but has given his daughter’s hand to them in wedlock.
Munir Mengal, commoner of the Mengal tribe and human rights defender based in Paris, is not impressed by the Mengal feudal family. He said, “Most of the elite females use swimming pools, gyms, and wear mini-skirts outside of Balochistan. But they hide their faces and wear burqah in Balochistan to show their superiority and hide their ugly faces from their own people.”
Baloch are extremely xenophobic when it comes to marrying a woman to a man from any other ethnic group in Pakistan (This writer’s eldest sister was married to a sheikh from Kasur in 1971 and majority of the members of the extended family boycotted the wedding.)
“Credit must be given to Sardar Akhtar Mengal for fully supporting his daughter in her choice,” said London-based Baloch lawyer Shayak Bizenjo, whose father Sherdil Bizenjo, heads the Tumrani subtribe of the Bizenjos.
It is not clear why Sardar Akhtar Mengal conceded to the diktat of his two British nephews, Noordin and Bhawal. Thankfully, the two Britons seem not to be offended if their cousin posted her childhood pictures.
Miami-based Dr Tara Chand, who served as government minister when Sardar Akhtar Mengal was chief minister of Balochistan in the mid-1990s, vehemently protests singling out his former boss for purdah of the daughter, “You should criticize the daughters and wives of all the chieftains. Which chieftain's daughter or wife's photo have you seen?“
Banari Mengal posted pictures of her childhood with her grandfather and father:
Writer’s note: This writer is personally offended against any feudal injustice towards women as his late mother was forced out of school when she was just 11 years old and was not even allowed to marry her Sindhi lover in early 1940s but was instead married to her cousin.