Baloch Yakjehti Committee has announced to celebrate March 2 the Baloch Culture day as an expression of solidarity with the victims of enforced disappearances.
A spokesperson for the Baloch Yakjehti [solidarity] Committee Karachi, issuing a statement regarding the occasion of Baloch Culture Day, said that culture is the identity of nations and it is the culture that keeps nations alive.
“The civilized nations of the world have always tried their best to keep their language, dress, customs and traditions alive, so they have not only been able to maintain their presence on the world map but also have played an important role in the development of the society,” he added.
The spokesman further said that Baloch culture spans thousands of years and the Baloch nation has managed to keep its language, dress, customs and values alive despite plenty of difficulties.
Nations cannot survive without language and culture and in order to maintain our national culture, we need to struggle in all circumstances. To secure the existence of Baloch nation , we need to maintain our language, customs and values.
to conclude, the spokesman said the Baloch Solidarity Committee will celebrate Baloch Culture Day as an expression of solidarity with the Baloch missing persons. A cultural walk will be organized from Karachi Arts Council to Karachi Press Club and solidarity will be expressed with missing persons by participating in the missing persons protest camp.
Baloch Culture Day is officially being celebrated since 2 March 2010. On this day, Baloch men., women and children wear their traditional dresses, play Balochi songs, and do Balochi chap (dance). They exhibit the specialities of Balochistan, such as dates, food, tea, traditional ornaments, swords, guns, jewelery and handcrafts.
It is to recall that the first Baloch culture day festival in 2010 was attacked in Khuzdar University of Balochistan by hand grenade bombs which resulted in killing 2 young students and injuring several others. The Baloch student organisations and nationalist groups accused Pakistani intelligence agencies for the attack.
Balochistan is known as the richest region for its natural resources but Baloch peoples are the poorest and most backward in the country. There is currently the fifth insurgency underway since early 2000’s. They blame that Pakistani army and federal government has always discriminated them and kept them backward.
Many hardcore nationalists claim that Pakistan has illegally occupied Balochistan and they want to regain their independence.
Rights organisations from Balochistan state that at least 45 thousand people are forcefully disappeared by the Pakistan Army. It’s been more than a decade the families of those missing persons are protesting on daily basis.