Enforced disappearances in Balochistan, Sindh discussed

Author of ‘The Baloch who is not missing and others who are’ Mohammed Hanif speaking at the event organized by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan at the Arts Council on Wednesday evening.—White Star

by Peerzada Salman

KARACHI: Speakers highlighted the issues related to the missing Baloch persons with reference to writer Mohammed Hanif’s book ‘The Baloch who is not missing and others who are’ at an event organised by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) at the Arts Council on Wednesday evening.

The programme began with the screening of a BBC documentary on the subject.

بہت بڑے مسئلے پر چھوٹی سی کتاب

For the Baloch who are missing and others who will be too

I cried for days when my cat died. But I was better off than my little cousin whose dog got kidnapped.

We still wonder if Toffee, who came as a puppy 13 years ago, is alive. We wonder if she is given food on time. If she is safe.  Whenever she comes to mind, in our hearts we hope that she died too.

Think about how you feel when your child gets late from school and you don’t know where your baby is, think about how you feel when you lose a pet, and then imagine what families of missing persons go through, Muhammad Hanif said at a session for Baloch missing persons at the Karachi Literature Festival two weeks ago.

The BALOCH who is not MISSING & others who are – Mohammed Hanif

Since 2005, the Human Rights Commission has been paying special attention to the increasingly alarming human rights situation in Balochistan. The Commission has organized four fact-finding missions to the province, the reports of which have been widely disseminated. A special desk on missing persons has also been set up in Quetta that maintains data on enforced disappearances and killings.

However, it was after reading Mohammed Hanif’s account of his meeting with Qadeer Baloch in Dawn that the idea of a book came to me. Hanif’s conversation with Qadeer Baloch about the disappearance and killing of his son, Jaleel Reiki, was moving – and disturbing – in a way that statistics can never be. I knew that if HRCP were to publish a book about the missing in Balochistan, Hanif would be the writer to put the stories together. He was quick to agree and joined HRCP’s fact-finding mission to Balochistan in May 2012.

بلوچ لاپتہ افراد : ایک روح شکن کہانی (حصہ اول) تبصرہ : میر محمد علی ٹالپر ترجمہ: لطیف بلیدی

لوگ ان مظالم کو عدم دلچسپی کیساتھ دیکھتے ہیں کیونکہ لاپتہ اور ہلاک کیے گئے بلوچوں کو محض ایک شماریاتی حیثیت دیکر خارج البلد کردیا گیا ہے

بلوچ لاپتہ افراد اور ان کے تباہ حال رشتہ داروں کی خاموش اور دکھ بھری پکار انسانیت کی روح کو ریزہ ریزہ کرنے کیلئے کافی زوردار ہے، لیکن بظاہر یہاں کے مرکزی دھارے کے معاشرے اور میڈیا پر اسکا کوئی اثر نہیں پڑ رہا، دونوں اس دکھ بھری پکار پر بہرے ہیں۔ جو کچھ بلوچستان میں ہو رہا ہے، اسے معاشرہ اور میڈیا بڑی حد تک یا تو دیکھے سے انکاری ہیں یا ان مظالم کو صحیح قرار دینے کیلئے جواز پیش کرنے کی کوشش کرتے ہیں۔ تمام ریاستی ادارے اس جرم کے ارتکاب میں معاون اور آمادہ ہیں، اور انہوں نے متاثرہ افراد کو اپنے درد کا اظہار کرنے کیلئے اپنی زندگی اور اعضاءکا خطرہ مول لینے کیلئے مجبور کر رکھا ہے۔ یہ کوئی حیرت کی بات نہیں ہے کہ 10 فروری کو کراچی میں ایک بڑی بلوچ ریلی نے بینرز اور پلے کارڈز اٹھائے ہوئے تھے اور آزادی کا مطالبہ کر رہے تھے۔ انہوں نے آزاد بلوچستان کا ایک بڑا پرچم بھی اٹھا رکھا تھا، یہ جان کر کہ کینہ پرور پاکستانی ریاست ان لوگوں کو بھی سزا دیتی ہے جو اغواءکیے گئے لوگوں کی لاشیں وصول کرنے جاتے ہیں۔ گُلّے، بہار خان پیردادانی کے بیٹے نے اپنے رشتہ داروں، جبری طور پر غائب کیے گئے دو بھائی اور میرے سابقہ شاگرد محمد خان اور محمد نبی کی لاشیں وصول کی تھیں، 15 اگست، 2012ءکے بعد سے لاپتہ ہے۔ ریاست ان لوگوں کیلئے ایک مناسب تدفین بھی نہیں چاہتی جن کو وہ مار دیتی ہے۔

COMMENT : Baloch missing persons: a soul rending saga — I — Mir Mohammad Ali Talpur

People view these atrocities disinterestedly because the Baloch missing and dead have been relegated to merely statistical status

The silent anguished cry of the Baloch missing persons and their devastated relatives is loud enough to rend the very soul of humanity, but seemingly, it has no effect on the mainstream society and media here, both deaf to this anguished cry. Society at large and the media either refuse to see what is happening in Balochistan or try to justify the atrocities. All state institutions aid and abet in this crime, forcing the affected people to risk life and limb to express their pain. Little wonder then that in Karachi on February 10, a large Baloch rally carried banners and placards demanding freedom. They carried a large independent Balochistan flag, knowing well that the unforgiving Pakistani state even punishes people who go to receive the dead bodies of abducted people. Gullay, son of Bahar Khan Pirdadani, had received the bodies of relatives — two forcibly disappeared brothers, my former students Mohammad Khan and Mohammad Nabi — and is missing since August 15, 2012. The state does not even want a decent burial for those it kills.

Rep. Rohrabacher Requests Information on Missing Baluch; Questions Administration’s Actions

Washington, Jul 30 Today, Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) sent a letter Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, asking her to provide his office with information related to the case of a missing Baluch man named Zakir Majeed. Mr. Majeed, who was the Vice-Chairman of the Baluch Student Organization, was abducted on June 2009.

Human rights groups have recorded hundreds of cases of ethnic Baluch men disappearing or being killed by Pakistan’s security forces. The Pakistani government uses kidnapping and murder to repress Baluch who express a desire for autonomy.

Earlier this year, Rep. Rohrabacher raised the case of British citizen Noordin Mengal, who was the delegate to the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization for Baluchistan, and was denied entry to the United States by the Department of Homeland Security.

A sister’s quest for missing brother

Baloch Missing Persons families arrived at Rawalpindi’s Railway Station at 4am on Tuesday (Apr 05, 2011), they were whisked away by the men of intelligence agencies. They were taken to a safe house in Islamabad.
“They asked us why we have come to the capital and searched all the baggage. Some of the officials kept yelling, telling us to go back to Quetta.”

ISLAMABAD, April 8: On April 22 Farzana Majeed’s brother she had not seen almost for the last two years would turn 28 as the quest for the missing sibling brings her to Islamabad.

Zakir Majeed went missing from Mastung in June 2009. After desperately looking for the brother in the native town, holding a protest camp in Quetta and a three-month campaign in Karachi, Farzana has come to Islamabad along with 22 other Baloch men, women and children to appear before the Supreme Court on April 13 in the missing persons case.

Baloch Family members reached 205 days of their hunger protest but still the International bodies feel insecure to speak

Occupied Balochistan: Baloch families of missing persons are the sole protesters recording an outstanding days of protest, recording more then 205 days of Hunger protest but still no response from the Pakistani judiciary or the International justice systems, it seems that no one cares about the hunger protest which is an outstanding record breaking of 205 days of Hunger strike while the family members stated that they have no believe over the Pakistani judiciary if there is anyone that could help the depressed families then it is those International Human rights organizations, UN, EU, & ICRC.

ANALYSIS: Lest we forget

by Mir Mohammad Ali Talpur

Zakir Majeed, Abdul Hamid Jamal, Mehboob Wadhela, Faiz Mohammad Marri and hundreds of other Baloch — it is impossible to name all — are missing. The unrestrained impunity with which they are disappeared, tortured and then thrown along highways just shows the epoch that the perpetrators suppose they live in

Qambar Chakar’s story begins on July 10, 2008 when he, Khurshid Baloch and Qayyum Baloch, then studying in Balochistan University of Information Technology and Management Sciences (BUITMS), began a hunger strike unto death to protest the discriminatory admission policy. Based on open merit for the entire Balochistan, it meant that students from backwaters could not even hope to enter BUITMS. Qambar and his protesting companions wanted the open merit to be devolved to district level to afford equal opportunities to all areas.

درجنوں‌بلوچوں‌کی گمشدگیوں نے مکران کو عید سے بیگانہ کردیا

ہر عید کی طرح اس بار بھی مکران میں‌درجنوں خاندان اپنے پیاروں کی گمشدگی کے باعث عید کی خوشیاں‌نہیں‌منائیں گے، ضلع کیچ، گوادر اور پنجگور سے اس وقت کئی درجن نوجوان غائب ہیں جن کے بغیر ان کے خاندان عید منانے پر مجبور ہیں