From Laila to Sammi
Author: Shahmeer Baloch
Laila Khalid was born on the 9th of April 1944 in Haifa. In 1948, Palestinians were forced to migrate from Haifa to Lebanon. At the age of fifteen, she followed the footsteps of her brother and joined the Arab Nationalist Movement, who considered the Arabs a different nation and wanted to structure this nationalistic sentiment into a single nation. The group was founded in1940 and the Palestinian section of this group was named as Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). Laila Khalid had been one of the popular members of PLFP and she was also the Poster Girl of Palestinian Militancy.
Laila Khalid became well known to the public after the 1969’s hijackings, where four aeroplanes were hijacked, and the world remembers that month by Black September, which inscribed the picture of Laila Khalid in people’s minds.
In August 1966, Laila Khalid became a part of hijacking team, the TWA flight 840 aeroplane which was flying from Italy to Greece, was hijacked and landed in Damascus and all passengers were set free before the aeroplane was blown up with explosives.
After the hijacking, Laila Khalid became famous. Her picture where she had wrapped a middle-eastern scarf around her neck and holding a Kalashnikov in her hand became a symbol of women’s participation in the resistance. That picture is still famous globally and symbolizes the contribution by women in nationalist resistance.
“The consequence of my insanity surely rises up,
From this gloomy ocean, a beam of light rises up’’
Now if we come to Balochistan, where another subjugated nation is struggling for their motherland, we will find Sammi Baloch, a brave daughter who is struggling for the safe release of her father. She has sacrificed her childhood and adulthood. Sammi Baloch’s father, Doctor Deen Mohammad Baloch was abducted and disappeared on 28 June 2009 at the hands of Pakistan’s intelligence agencies.
Doctor Deen Mohammad Baloch was a medical officer in Ornach town of Khuzdar district. He was loyal to his profession to the extent that he only met his family once in three months. Doctor Deen Mohammad Baloch was also a political leader and a central committee member of a nationalist political party— Baloch National Movement (BNM).
He was abducted from civil hospital Ornach. Upon his disappearance, Sammi Baloch along with her family registered an FIR (First Information Report) and also filed a petition before the Balochistan High Court.
Despite conducting press conferences in the press clubs and knocking the doors of High and Supreme Court, she went to every institution built to provide justice, but his father was never given back to her. She continued her struggle, she took part in the historic long march of Voice For Baloch Missing Persons (VBMP), which marched from Quetta to Karachi and went to Islamabad on foot, covering more than 2000 kilometers.
What does she want? Why on occasions of the sacred day of Eid she is in front of the press clubs? for what? It is a question for world’s human rights defenders and philanthropists, whether the demands of this daughter of a Baloch are not legal that her father should be released or produced before the court for lawful proceedings.
The role of women in our society has always been neglected and treated with prejudice and women were always considered the weaker one, but Laila Khalid who is known worldwide as a power symbol for women and Sammi Baloch in Balochistan, is a symbol of continuous struggle and bravery.
Sammi Baloch for all those women is a symbol of pride who come out of their houses and become a voice of the voiceless.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of The Balochistan Post or any of its editors.