Balochistan: The struggle against disappearances

By Dr Ayesha Baloch

In Pakistan, there is no law for Baloch nation and the enforced disappearances continue unabated across Balochistan to this day. The Pakistani forces have immunity to do anything they please against the cultural norms of Baloch society. Anyone who raises voice for the rights of Baloch people and speaks against disappearance will be abducted by Pakistani forces and forcibly silence. in short, they want us, Baloch people, to close our eyes to their crimes against our people.

Whenever the relatives of missing persons ask the government about the whereabouts of their loved ones. The government’s easy solution to sweep that question under the carpet is that all missing persons are terrorists or they simply deny about their abduction. The families of disappeared persons, however, insist that if there are any charges and cases against their abducted relatives, they must be presented to a court of law and punished according to the law of the land.

The government has no right to simply accuse a person without a shred of proof and disappear him/her forever. Not presenting disappeared people in their own courts proves the government is trying to hide something from the common public and from the courts. It shows they have no evidence against abducted persons and the security forces cannot prove their claims. They know that they have arrested and disappeared sinless people that’s why they cannot bring them before the court.

The number of missing persons in Balochistan has exceeded thousands which means thousands of family are suffering, thousands of kids wait for their fathers every day to return home, thousands of sister wait for their brothers, thousands of wives wait for their husbands …. the wait seem everlasting and the agony is unbearable. Several mothers and children died while waiting for their loved ones, several children spent their innocent childhood in protest camps and many said goodbye to their education and lifted the heavyweight of looking after their families on their fragile shoulders because their only bread earner has been abducted by Pakistani forces.

The courts are made for justice and one would expect the same from Pakistani Courts but judiciary in Pakistan is made hostage by Pakistan army and elite. They are not free enough to provide justice to us. We are an enslaved nation and Pakistani people consider us nothing. They do, however, love Balochistan because of its natural resources and continue to steal and disappear our loved ones and our resources from us.

The Baloch people have for long pinned their hopes to the United Nations and rest of the international community for help and justice but the UN too seems busy with other urgent businesses and relies on wrong information from Pakistan and its state-controlled media about the enforced disappearances in Balochistan. Still, I request to the UN to take action against Pakistan’s ‘elected’ and ‘selected’ governments for their part and silence about abduction of innocent people. UN must also question the Pakistani army, FC, Intelligence agencies and other forces about the whereabouts of Baloch missing persons. What is their crimes and why are they not presented in courts if they have committed any crime? Because many mothers of Baloch missing persons have died with the only one wish and plea “I want to see my child once before my death.”

There are protest rallies almost every day for release of missing persons but in Pakistan, no one listens to our plea and cries for justice. Pakistan (state/Pakistani people) have been looting our natural resources for many years and excavating Iron, Gold, Oil, Coal, Coppers, Marble and the list goes on from Balochistan only to benefit the people of Punjab but in return all we get is more disappearances and the bullet-ridden dead bodies of our loved ones.

I am often told to stop raising voice for Baloch missing persons because Pakistan army is very cruel, they will disappear me or harm me. I believe I am not doing anything wrong. It is my human right to express my dislike for unacceptable actions of the government and I will continue to raise my voice against human rights violations in Balochistan. It’s true that Pakistani army and forces are cruel and they can do anything they want because no one questions them. They consider themselves above the law and the law/judiciary is their hostage.

We Baloch consider it our duty and we are compelled to raise voice for release of our missing persons. It is our human responsibility, our national responsibility and we cannot bear the killing and abduction of our loved ones, our educated youth, our women, children and elderly no matter what they the end result may be. We will not hesitate from any sort of sacrifice for our missing persons. We will not remain silent and cannot be silenced forcibly. Until the Pakistan army releases the last missing person from Balochistan, our struggle will go on and we will intensify our protests.

World must not listen to lies of Pakistan about peace in Balochistan. There is no peace, they are killing our people on daily basis under different pretexts. The silence of UN and delay in taking against Pakistan is costing us lives of our loved ones and we cannot be silent spectators of the death of our people.