Mengal arrested and shifted to Karachi

Karachi: Sardar Akhtar Mengal, a former chief minister of Balochistan, who was under house arrest for about a month in the nearby town of Hub, was formally arrested on charges of torturing security officials, a police official said.

Mengal was shifted to Karachi overnight, the official said.

Mengal is the president of his own faction of Balochistan National Party (BNP) which demands greater political and economic rights for the Baloch people.

He was under house arrest in a farm house which had been declared a sub-jail.

"Yes, he was arrested by a team led by SP [Superintendent of Police] Athar Rasheed and brought to Karachi," a senior police official said.

Intelligence officials

Mengal's four private guards allegedly kidnapped and tortured two intelligence officials in Karachi who were shadowing him and his family.

The private guards had already been arrested and convicted in the case, but Mengal did not appear in the court despite a number of notices.

The news of Mengal's arrest sparked violence in some parts of Balochistan, including Hub, as youngsters tried to block traffic by throwing stones at vehicles and forced shops to down shutters, witnesses said.

The province of Balochistan, which is rich in mineral deposits, has been in turmoil since the killing of Nawab Akbar Bugti, a leader of the Bugti tribe, in an army attack on his cave hiding.