Karachi is not where the Baloch families seeking their missing beloved end their walk. In a few days, Mama Qadeer with his followers, mostly women and children, will be marching to Islamabad. “I know the walk to Punjab is unsafe. There are no pockets of Baloch inhabitants who will open their houses to us or share their food. But if I come back dead from Punjab, I will think the purpose of my life has been fulfilled,” said Qadeer, who heads the Voice of Baloch Missing Person (VBMP), a group fighting for the rights of the missing Baloch youth. He was speaking on Tuesday at an event hosted at the Karachi Press Club to commemorate the International Human Rights Day and highlight the issue of enforced disappearances.On November 21, hundreds of Baloch people arrived in Karachi from Quetta covering over 750 kilometres on foot, demanding the return of 18,000 missing Baloch. Qadeer had found his son’s tortured body in 2011 and since then he has camped in protest at different press clubs across the country. He has been constantly receiving threats from security agencies. “Jalil was a part of me. He was the support for my old age. After his death, I have dedicated my life to find the other missing people,” he said.Farzana Majeed, the VBMP general secretary whose brother Zakir Majeed has also been missing, said: “I have lost my health but not my courage. The blisters on my feet have not healed but some people have already forgotten us. So we decided to arrange this follow-up seminar. We are not tired. We have not given up,” she said to an audience which gave her a standing ovation. Some women wiped off their tears. The state, Farzana added, is violating the Vienna Convention, which protects against torture and enforced disappearances.Ten-year-old Ali Haider said: “I don’t know how you will help me. But please find my missing father.” Haider’s father Ramzan Baloch was whisked away in 2010. The speakers at the event maintained that at the time of Partition, Balochistan did not opt to be a part of Pakistan. The province, they alleged, was forcefully occupied by the Pakistan Army in 1948 and since then the armed forces have not left the Baloch in peace. Nargis Baloch, a columnist for The Daily Intekhab, said: “If the army continues persecuting us, things will get out of hand. Over 95 percent schools have already stopped singing the national anthem.” Another Baloch journalist, Nasir Karim, said: “This movement is not being run by a bunch of sardars. We do not want independence from Pakistan but we want autonomy. Sit with us, we are ready for dialogue.” Author Mohammed Hanif was of the view that the Baloch people should not be termed “missing persons”. “They have been abducted by the people whose salaries are paid through our taxes.” Human rights violations in Balochistan, he claimed, were worse than that in Palestine at the hands of Israel. “I know because I have been to Palestine. Over there, there is a record of missing persons so that their families know they have been picked up. The abducted men are tried at court.” Asad Butt, who represented the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, said: “The government can negotiate with the Taliban who are armed to the teeth but not the non-violent Baloch who are peacefully protesting for their rights.”The speakers unanimously demanded that the troops be withdrawn from the province. http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-4-219482-Baloch-families-plan-Punjab-march-in-qu
