Quetta: Protest for Baloch missing persons continues for the 4471st day

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The Voice for Baloch Missing Persons completed the 4471st day of its protest in front of the Quetta Press Club on Friday. National Party leader Shama Ishaq, Abdul Ghaffar Qambrani and several others visited the camp to express solidarity with the families of the missing persons. The young sister of the missing Wadood Baloch also came to the camp to register the name of her brother in the missing person’s list.

Speaking at the gathering, VBMP vice-chairman Mama Qadeer Baloch said that enforced disappearances and kill-and-dumps are indelible scars on our collective psyche that will be wiped out when the Baloch national struggle succeeds and the shackles of slavery are thrown off. He said that the enslavement based on force and compulsion cannot last long – this tyranny and cruelty will come back to haunt the tyrants.

Gulzadi Baloch, the sister of the missing Wadood Baloch, came to the Baloch missing person camp in Quetta to register the name of her brother in the missing person list. Sitting at the camp, she said that the Pakistani security forces had “abducted” her brother on August 12 in Macch, and he remains missing to this day.

Gulzadi Baloch said that her brother has been detained for no apparent reason. She appealed to human rights groups to take notice and ensure the safe release of her brother.

“Enforced disappearance” is a thorny issue in Balochistan, one that has so far affected tens of thousands of families and forced countless others to flee to the hostile neighbouring countries for safety. Numerous others have fled to the Europe and Americas in search of asylum.

The families of the Baloch missing persons have been protesting in Quetta for more than 12 years, without any considerable success. These families carried out a historical 3000-kilometer long march from Quetta to Islamabad on foot in search of justice, but no avail. They have also organized on and off protests in Quetta, Karachi and even in Islamabad, but they have only received fake assurance and hollow promises.

In many incidents, the family members of missing persons have been pressured to stop the search for their loved ones. The mother of missing Rashid Hussain – a Baloch human rights activist who was detained in Dubai and illegally deported to Pakistan, despite the clear danger to his life – was forced to sign a fabricated statement incriminating her son. When she refused to comply, the forces threatened her and the rest of her family.

The All Parties Kech, an alliance of ten political parties, said in a recent media statement that the family members of slain Gohram Baloch are being threatened by the Pakistani authorities. Gohram, a resident of Tump, was detained by the security forces and tortured to death in custody. His bruised dead body was handed over to his family members a few days after his abduction.

The All Parties Kech said that the forces are pressuring the family members of Gohram Baloch to testify that he died of natural causes, and not because of torture. The statement said that such displays of state-sponsored aggression against innocent civilians are appalling and condemnable.

The statement said that if such incidents continue, the situation could get worse, and the government authorities will be responsible. The group said that we stand by the family members of Gohram Baloch, and if the forces do not stop threatening them, we will carry out protests.

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