Balochistan: Campaign against enforced-disappearances gains momentum, more families join the movement

QUETTA: Hundreds of people have joined the protest rally of the families of enforced-disappeared persons from Railway Hockey Ground to Balochistan High Court Quetta Monday.

The participants of the rally included women and children who were carrying banners, placards and pictures of their loved – many of whom were abducted many years ago by Pakistan security forces and intelligence agencies.

The campaign against enforced-disappearances in Balochistan intensified around two weeks ago when the wife and sister of an abducted Baloch student leader started a token hunger strike protest and staged sit-in protests in Quetta for the release of Shabir Baloch.

Many students, human rights activists and family members of Baloch missing persons from different towns and cities of Balochistan have been gradually joining the protest to demand the safe release of their loved ones.

Several other families have joined the protest camp and more families continue to congregate and demand the safe release of their loved ones. The participant of a wide range of people from different spheres of life has turned the protest into a larger movement for the release of abducted Baloch activists.

On Monday the participants of the rally have announced to hold talks with Pashtun and Sindhi activists and organise a sit-in protest in Islamabad – the capital of Pakistan. They said their protest will not end until all the enforced-disappeared persons are released.

The leaders of Voice for Baloch Missing Persons, Chairman Nasrullah Baloch and Vice Chairman Qadeer Baloch, lead the rally on Monday. Nasrullah Baloch said that several other people have been abducted recently from Tump, Panjgur, Awaran and other areas of Balochistan.

Earlier Baloch students have mobilised multiple protest rallies in Islamabad, Karachi and Dera Ghazi Khan to support the struggle of Baloch families in Quetta. The protestors said that they come out in streets to support and express solidarity with women and children who have been protesting in the cold weather of Quetta for their loved ones.

Despite the presence of some pro-Pakistani parliamentarians at Monday’s rally, the participants have strongly condemned the Baloch parliamentarians for their ‘criminal and shameless’ silence against enforced-disappearances and other crimes of state forces in Balochistan.

The pro-freedom Baloch parties say that more than 20,000 people have been forcibly disappeared by Pakistani security forces and intelligence agencies and at least 5,000 abducted Baloch have been killed in custody by Pakistani forces.

The relatives of abducted Baloch, however, demand for immediate release of their loved or if there any cases against them, they should be presented before a court of law.

The mainstream Pakistan media (print and electronic) have totally ignored the peaceful and democratic protest of Baloch families. The protesters have been using social media as an alternative source to spread their message across Balochistan, Pashtunistan and Sindh.