Balochistan: Families of Baloch disappeared person spend their Eid at protest camp

QUETTA: The VBMP (Voice for Baloch Missing Persons), like every year, staged a protest in front of Quetta Press Club on the day of Eid-ul-Fitr to demand the recovery enforced disappeared persons.  

The Voice for Baloch Missing Persons (VBMP) has been protesting against disappearances in Balochistan since 2000 when VBMP Chairman Nasrulah Baloch’s uncle Ali Asghar Baloch was abducted by Pakistani forces.

Asghar is still missing but the protest started for his release has turned into a larger movement and become the voice of thousands of Baloch families whose loved ones have been abducted and disappeared by Pakistan forces.

The organisation has held several protests and token-hunger strikes in front of Quetta and Karachi press clubs.

The VBMP also organised the longest March ever for the release of Baloch missing persons from Quetta – the capital of Balochistan to Islamabad – the capital of Pakistan – via Karachi.  

The families and relatives of hundreds of enforced disappeared Baloch, political activists, students and social activists joined the VBMP protest on Sunday to express their support and solidarity with the missing persons’ families.

Abdul Qadeer Baloch, the Vice Chairman of VBMP, in a social media video message said that relatives have gathered in front of Press club to demand recovery of their ones.

In a short message, the VBMP Chairman Nasruallah Baloch expressed his disappointment on the government’s failure to keep its promise of releasing the disappeared persons on Eid Day.

“It is very sad and disappointing that the missing persons have not been released on the auspicious occasion of Eid-ul-Fitr,” Nasrallah said.

The protest family members were carrying pictures of their missing loved ones and chanted slogans by shouting out the name of each missing persons and demanding for their release.

A senior Pakistan journalist, Hamid Mir, in a Twitter message referring to the protest of Baloch families said, “We need to understand the pain of those people who are protesting on the occasion of Eid.”

Another Pakistani right-wing commentator and columnist associated with The News International said that the state [Pakistan] must resolve the issue of disappeared persons but this act [disappearances] is unethical and unconstitutional.

“If anyone has committed a crime, they should be trialled and punished accordingly. The arrest and disappearance a person is brutality and not letting their loved ones to meet the disappeared is even worse.”

It may be recalled that Baloch pro-freedom political parties say that over 30,000 Baloch have been abducted by the Pakistani military, FC and intelligence agencies and they being held at undisclosed locations.

Many of the missing persons were killed in custody and their mutilated bodies with bullets wounds and clear marks of torture were found dumped in roadsides and desolated areas across Balochistan.