Court declares travel ban on Akhtar Mengal illegal

QUETTA: The Balochistan High Court has declared the travel ban imposed on Balochistan National Party-Mengal (BNP-M) chief Sardar Akhtar Mengal illegal and ordered that his name to be removed from the no-fly list.

According to sources, BHC two-member bench comprising Chief Justice and Justice Sardar Ahmed Halimi announced the verdict after reserving it earlier in the day following completion of arguments from all parties.

On July 20, 2025, Mengal had confirmed in a post on social media platform X that immigration officials offloaded him from a Dubai-bound flight, informing him that his name was on the no-fly list. He noted that the last time his name appeared on such a list was during the Musharraf era, adding that he mentioned this only for context and comparison.

Subsequently, Mengal challenged the government’s decision in the BHC to place his name on the Provisional National Identification List (PNIL), which imposes temporary travel restrictions.

The petition was filed on his behalf by BNP lawyer Sajid Tareen Advocate, arguing that Mengal was stopped at the Quetta airport from boarding the Dubai flight and informed that his name was included in the no-fly list.

Akhtar Mengal had resigned from the National Assembly in September 2024 saying that no one was willing to listen to us and are not interested in the problems of Balochistan.

Mengal had said, “I had decided to raise the problems of Balochistan in the assembly today,” Mengal said. However, he lamented that “people are not interested in the issue of Balochistan”.

Mengal stated, “A parliamentarian himself said that Balochistan is slipping out of our hands,” but he went further, declaring, “Balochistan is not getting out of your hands, but it has already gotten out.”

Mengal criticized the government’s failure to address the bloodshed in Balochistan and called for unity among political leaders to tackle the province’s problems. “Everyone should come together on this issue and a meeting should have been called to discuss it,” he asserted.