Kabir Baloch, Mushtaq Baloch and Attaullah Baloch went missing from district Khuzdar in March 2009. 12 years later, their families still long for their arrival.
To mark the 12th year of the disappearance of Kabir, Mushtaq and Attaullah, their family members held a press conference in the Quetta Press Club on Wednesday, saying that they have knocked on every door in search of justice in this long excruciating period, but to no avail.
Mama Qadeer Baloch, Vice-Chairman of the Voice for Baloch Missing Persons, was also present at the conference. The family members said that the Pakistani commission on enforced disappearances is just a charade that has been established to mislead the international human rights groups.
Addressing the gathering, one of the speakers said that the past 12 years have been an agonizing period for me and my entire family. She said that members of her family have not just been “abducted”, but also killed. Her brother Waheed Baloch was shot dead along with his friend Salman Baloch in Khuzdar in February of 2012. She said that her other brother Kabeer Baloch and two of his friends, Mushtaq Baloch and Attaullah Baloch, were “forcibly disappeared” from Khuzdar in March 2009, exactly 12 years ago.
The family members said that to mark the 12th year of the disappearance of our loved ones and to bring the matter of their abduction in front of the international rights organizations and judicial bodies, we will begin a hunger strike in the Voice for Baloch Missing Persons camp in Quetta on 26th of March.
They added that they will also organize a demonstration in front of the Quetta Press Club on 27th of March. They will also run a social media campaign on that day with the hashtag #ReleaseBalochMissingPersons. They appealed to the public to participate in the demonstration and raise their voice for the safe recovery of their loved ones and all the Baloch missing persons.