KHUZDAR: Amid tears and sobs, veteran Baloch nationalist leader and first chief minister of Balochistan Sardar Ataullah Mengal was laid to rest at Shuhada Qabrastan in his native town of Wadh on Friday afternoon.

Mr Mengal passed away in Karachi on Thursday.

His body was brought to Wadh in a long motorcade from Karachi. A large number of people were found standing in various towns and villages along the Karachi-Quetta highway, showering flowers on the ambulance carrying the body.

Sardar Akhtar Mengal, leaders of the Balochistan National Party (BNP), tribal elders and other people were part of the motorcade. The last journey of Sardar Mengal from Karachi to Wadh took around 10 hours. His coffin was covered with the BNP flag.

Delegations of various political parties, including the Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party, Awami National Party, Pakistan Peoples Party, Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (JUI-F), Jamaat-i-Islami, Balochistan Awami Party, Hazara Democratic Party and BNP received the body of the late leader in Wadh.

The funeral prayer of Sardar Mengal was offered at the ground of Government Boys High School. It was led by Maulana Abdul Kabeer Mengal of JUI-F and attended by thousands of people, including leaders and workers of political parties, tribal elders, provincial ministers, members of national and provincial assemblies and senators.

Emotional scenes were witnessed on the occasion as relatives and other people burst into tears.

Sardar Ataullah Mengal had asked his family in his will to bury him in the graveyard of Lohi, which is also called Shuhada Qabrastan.

Prominent among those who attended his last rites included JUI-F secretary general Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri, Balochistan Home Minister Mir Ziaullah Langove, Sardar Mohammad Selah Bhootani, PPP MNA Abdul Qadir Patel, MNA Agha Rafiullah, Dr Hamid Achakzai and Rahim Ziaratwal of PkMAP, Mohammad Asghar Achakzai of ANP, MNA Nawabzada Khalid Khan Magsi, Dr Abdul Hayee Baloch, Abdul Wali Kakar and Dr Jahanzeb Jamaldini of BNP, Senator Qasim Ronjho, former senator Nawabzada Saifullah Magsi, Prince Yahya Jan Ahmedzai, Sardar Aslam Bizenjo, MPA Sanaullah Baloch and Pakistan Federal Union of Journa­list president Shehzada Zulfiqar.

Published in Dawn, September 4th, 2021