The uncertain hardships of getting education

By Shaari Baloch

In this progressing world, the perspectives of the science, Informational Technology (IT) mathematical, scientific and computer-related techniques or the other duties have become the important parts of existence and development.

But apart from this technical world, there is another world which really exists in the twenty-first century, about which the World might have been unaware before but because of its strategic and geographical value, now the world’s interest has been developed just owing to the so-called ‘game changer’ project known as CPEC (China Pakistan Economic Corridor), being proceeded in most deprived part of the world namely Balochistan.

This significantly enrich region of naturally blessed minerals has been reported to have almost 700 ghost schools to exist, despite this fact the colleges  in Balochistan are less facilitated, non-functional and almost beyond the concerns of consideration, on the other hand, the primarily constructed educational institutions have been demolished or besiege by the state army or locally free handed sponsored groups but for the Baloch students (the sons of wealthy Balochistan who have their own language, history and culture)  love for education and books have not been demolished or snatched yet.

Balochistan’s district Awaran has importantly attracted the concentrations of the people, well famous to be the city of talented people and it is just at the centre which if developed could have connected most trading and transportation zones from Mukuran to Karachi but unfortunately it has been always deprived of from all basic privileges like other parts of Balochistan.

Owing to this reflected and appealing deprivation and the issue of insufficient schools or colleges, the majority of the destitute students from Awaran shifted to the other cities of the region to accomplish their goal of education for a better future.

Form them a student namely Sagheer Baloch, one of the talented students of Awaran, hails from a poor family who went to Karachi for its higher education.

To quench of his thirst for education, he luckily got admission in Karachi University which is one of the famous Universities in Pakistan.

According to Hameeda Baloch, sister of Sagheer Baloch, who has once also intended to get the education in Karachi, mentioned in her most of the statements that ‘Sagheer Baloch was the only man who was accomplishing education in their family; he is the hope of the entire family.’ She further added, ‘We all had a dream to see Sagheer Baloch having a bright future. He was strongly cooperative to me and just because of him I came to Karachi to complete my education. My parents sent him to Karachi because of the worst situation of education in Awaran, we thought that he will complete his education and we would live a happy life with our brother but our lives become so much dark now which I couldn’t even imagine ever. Now I can not face my parents because they are broken as I observe them facing such a fierce pain. Now I wonder at the conditions, what they dreamt of his future and what they got now, nothing but his news of enforced abduction. My father is a driver, he wanted his children to be educated but now his son, his support of living is behind the bars.’

She said ahead of that, ‘I was in my hostel when I heard the news of his abduction on 20 November 2017, which I consider the darkest day of my life. This painful night snatched our hope apart from us. He was abducted from the premises of Karachi University during his exams at 5:00 pm by security forces in front of students.’

‘They smashed his dreams and razed our hope, from that day I skipped my classes and started chanting the slogans on roads for his safe recovery like other Baloch sisters do. I have submitted a petition to the court but no one took a single step regarding his safe recovery. The police denied to register First Information Report (FIR), I came out to record my demonstration for Sagheer’s safe recovery but media did not give me coverage at all,’ Narrated the shivering Sister.

‘The human rights commission of Pakistan, (HRCP) arranged one day Camp in Karachi for the safe recovery of missing persons but he was not recovered and I am still on the roads for the demand of legal rights as a citizen. My entire family is disturbed after losing Sagheer, where they should go and what to do for his safe recovery because they have knocked every door for justice but all in vain. My parents had a dream to see their children educated but the cruel did not let us complete our education,’ the missing man’s sister cried.

‘Sagheer is in torture cells and I am walking in streets holding the placards and our life processes get halted badly. I am continuously requesting the entire world to raise voice with me, I don’t want my brother’s bones or his mutilated body I want him back safe and sound’, Yelled Hameeda Baloch.

It is not the only story of one Sagheer Ahmed it is beyond our estimation that how many Baloch students like sagheer went for education in developed cities but now they have been abducted. Their names added on the list of missing persons. We don’t know how many sisters like Hameeda and Khadija Baloch are in the streets and on roads holding the banners and placards at their hands.

How could we forget that the enforced disappearances are not only circumscribed to the grown-up Baloch youngsters in the Universities but also common with teenagers in the schools?

Yesterday there was a painful request from a Baloch mother in social media, where she has requested social media and human rights activists to play their role in the safe recovery of her son. Apart from requesting electronic media, she was also asking for help in social media just because she knows better than the victims live in such a region where media has not yet played a crucial role regarding Baloch or even humanity.

She is the mother of a teenage boy Asim Baloch, 14 years old, who was abducted by security forces from so-called Makran Mela, a Festival sponsored by Pakistani Army in Turbat city, her sister Khadija Baluch is also actively highlighting the issue in social media and requesting all humanitarians to raise their voices for her brother’s safe recovery. While requesting United Nation, she wrote in her tweet that when she went to police station to register the FIR, the Police denied registering with the same excuse that “if they registered such a case of enforced disappearance then intelligence agencies may create hurdles for they but they hadn’t any concerned regarding our problems.

‘It has been 28 days that my brother is in torture cells but neither media give us neither a satisfactory coverage nor any human rights organization’, Narrated the Sister.

At the same time, when sisters of missing were requesting for their siblings safe recovery, Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has expressed deep shock and grief on the indiscriminate and vicious killing of Kashmiri youth by Indian Army, other than Prime minister, the Army Chief, General Qamar Javed Bajwa, on Monday condemned the Indian Army atrocities in occupied Kashmir and represented his assurance in these words “Indian atrocities in occupied Kashmir can never suppress a just indigenous political struggle for self-determination”.

In Pakistani TV programs news channels were condemning the heartlessness of Indian Army and atrocities over the youth of Kashmir that Indian Army is behaving indiscriminately with those who took weapons or who have a pen at their hands.

The world must remind them see their own army’s atrocities against Baloch people that students like Sagheer and Asim were holding the pen when they were illegally abducted, neither Shahid Khaqan Abbasi condemned nor any journalist from the electronic media.

The State atrocities have been continuing either he is Sagheer, Asim or Aftab. Now Asim and Aftab both are not in schools. What would be the reason, that their fathers have not enough money to send them to good schools? No! Just because they are the creams of that nation which have their own history, culture, the language which are being attacked and if they get any awareness mistakenly regarding that the history which has been part of their lives for centuries they might ask for their rights so they must be detained in torture cells.

Asim and Sagheer are non-political workers, they are just students. What have they done? That they are in torture cells now, this question must be raised in the entire world. People of Balochistan send their children for education in other cities for safety and education.  Their parents did not know that the Baloch youth who have the courage to study or who have a love for books would be arrested and put in the torture cells, not in universities. If they are not safe in their homes how they would be protected in other cities of Pakistan.

This is one of the disheartening facts that every student faces in Balochistan, the family of the students before sending their daughters and sons to educational institutes think about their fates and safety. They pray to Almighty Allah for their protections as they know that Pakistan doesn’t tolerate students, progressive people to get the education, especially when the students are from Balochistan.