In an interview with the Geo News’s anchor Saleem Safi, the incumbent Chief Minister of Balochistan Qudooz Bizenjo said that his government is trying to estimate an “accurate” figure for the Baloch missing persons. He said that current figures are not reliable, the Balochistan National Party Mengal is presenting a different figure and so are other rights groups. He said that if the government is to solve the problem, it must have an accurate figure for the missing persons.
When asked about the issue of enforced disappearances in Balochistan, the chief minister said that the Home Department is looking into the figures to determine whether the missing persons are actually missing or they have fled to some other country, like Afghanistan. He said that there are several names on the missing persons’ list who are in some foreign country. He said that our government is working in concert with other stakeholders to make sure that the issue is solved.
Bizenjo’s comments, however, did not go well with the families of the Baloch missing persons and activists. In a media statement, the family members said that they were “utterly disappointed” by the chief minister’s comments. They said that the chief minister’s comments go against reality. Sammi Deen Baloch, the daughter of Dr. Deen Muhammad Baloch who has been missing for twelve years, said that families of the missing persons are protesting on the roads for the past several years. She said that some families have received the dead bodies of their loved ones, others are still running around the courts in search of justice.
Activist Fareeda Baloch, the sister of the missing Rashid Hussain, said that the people in power, who are selected as the “representatives of the people” are the ones idealizing injustices. She said that the chief minister has no right to rub salt on the wounds of the missing persons – his statement is utterly disappointing.
The Balochistan Post contacted Dil Murad Baloch, the Information Secretary of the Baloch National Movement, to take his view on Bizenjo;’s statement. He said that the Pakistani state has been promoting the same narrative as Qudoos Bizenjo. No government has been the true representative of the people – the people in the parliament are put in power by the Pakistani state to counter the Baloch national struggle. Bizenjo’s statement is false, it has no real value, he said.
It is pertinent to mention that other ministers have also thrown similar allegations, arguing that the missing persons are actually residing in some foreign country. But these claims have never been substantiated.
The Balochistan Post also reached out to activist Nasrullah Baloch, the Chairman of the Voice for Baloch Missing Persons, a rights group. He said that his group had good expectations from the new government, but the CM’s recent statement has left us totally disappointed.
He said we had submitted the list of the Baloch missing persons to the provincial government in 2019 and we challenge the chief minister to prove that list wrong. He said that we ask for the release of the missing persons because we believe that enforced disappearances are unconstitutional, unethical and a grave human rights violation. We ask the government to produce the missing persons before the court and prosecute them according to the law. But such an insensitive statement only serves to weaken this narrative and further deteriorate the already abysmal situation of the Baloch missing persons.
He said that similar allegations were made in the past. We brought the matter before the court and asked the accusers to provide their evidence. They had to back off because their allegations were unsubstantiated.