Mengal

Mengal (Balochi: مینگل ) is a Baloch tribe. Mengals are inhabitants of Balochistan, Pakistan, as well as Northern Balochistan. The Mengals speak Balochi and Brahui.The tribe can be divided in two major branches: Zagar Mengal and Shahizai Mengal.

Tribal area

The Mengal tribal area is around 70,000 square miles (180,000 km²), stretching from the Helmand River in the North to Lasbela District in the south, and bordering on the province of Sindh to the east, Makran and Kharan in the west.

Politics

For many years the Mengal tribe has been seeking greater autonomy from the Pakistan government. The Pakistani government and the Mengals have been clashing for the past four decades, for various reasons. Large-scale military operations were carried out in the area of Khuzdar in the 1960s and 1970s. In 1973, the Pakistani government headed by the former Prime Minister Late Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, with support of the Shah of Iran, carried out one of the bloodiest military operations in the history of Balochistan against the Mengal and Marri tribes which lasted for 5 years, during which around 8,000 Baloch fighters and 6,000 army soldiers were killed.