KARACHI/KHUZDAR: Former and first chief minister of Balochistan and veteran politician Sardar Ataullah Mengal has passed away at the age of 93 in a private hospital of Karachi on Thursday. Sardar Ataullah Mengal had been undergoing medical treatment at a private hospital for a week.

Balochistan National Party (BNP) Information Secretary Agha Hassan Baloch confirmed the demise of Sardar Ataullah Mengal. Mengal had remained the chief minister of Balochistan. He was the father of the BNP Mengal chief Akhtar Mengal.

He had been ill for a long time and was admitted to a private hospital in Karachi. Born in 1929, Mengal spent his childhood in Lasbela and later moved to Karachi. He was declared the chief (Sardar) of the Mengal tribe in 1954.

Mengal was introduced to politics by Mir Ghaus Bakhsh Bizenjo, a founding member of the National Awami Party (NAP) - who also briefly served as the governor of Balochistan in 1972-73. In 1962, Mengal was elected to the West Pakistan provincial assembly; Bezinjo ran his election campaign.

Former CM Balochistan Sardar Attaullah Mengal passes away in Karachi

Mengal became the first chief minister of Balochistan in May 1972 and remained in that position until his government was dismissed by the then Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in February 1973.

Mengal chose to go into self-exile in London during General Ziaul Haq's era. He returned to Pakistan in the 1990s and formed the BNP.

He also remained the head of the Pakistan Oppressed Nations Movement (Ponm).

He hailed from the Wadh Tehsil in Balochistan's Khuzdar district.

The late Baloch leader will be buried in his ancestral graveyard in Wadh and details of his funeral will be announced later, the BNP said. Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari said he was saddened to hear about Mengal's passing away.-Agencies