Arrest and release

Akhtar Mengal was arrested in September 2006, along with around 700 other political workers,^[9] in a government crackdown in Balochistan. He was held because he was planning a long march against President Pervez Musharraf's military rule. Mengal was released on May 9, 2008^[10] and all charges against him were dropped by the Government of Sindh. The Balochistan government withdrew all cases, including those of sedition, against Mengal.^[11][12]

On 25 March 2013, Mengal returned to Pakistan from Dubai to take part in general elections on 11 May 2013.^[13]

Uneasy relationship with the Baloch insurgency

Akhtar Mengal has been historically criticised by the Baloch insurgents as well as the security establishment.^[14] In his interview in 2013, he lamented that, “The Baloch militants consider me a traitor while the security establishment also treats me as an enemy."^[15] He is an elder of various such influential families who have their members on both sides of the political divide.^[16] Currently a part of the Pakistan Democratic Movement^[17] (a 13 party coalition currently in power at the Federal level), the association of his brother and nephews with the Baloch Liberation Army^[18] has long been an obstacle to his entry in the mainstream national politics. Javed Mengal (brother) and Nooruddin Mengal and Bhawal Mengal (nephews) have allegedly been involved^[19] in armed militancy in the rest province of Balochistan. However, Akhtar Mengal has condemned the insurgents and publicly called for a political solution to the myriad problems in the province.^[19]