Balochistan, where the stories of people’s lives are tied to struggle, rarely sees a day without someone like Saira protesting for the return of a loved one. Saira’s story is neither unique nor isolated; every household in Balochistan is filled with such tales.
Saira Baloch was in the eighth grade when her brothers were forcibly disappeared in 2018. At a young age, she chose the path of protest for their recovery. She knocked on the doors of Pakistan’s Supreme Court and High Court, staged sit-ins at the Governor House in Quetta and the Red Zone in Islamabad, and participated in the long march from Quetta to Islamabad. Despite following all constitutional and legal avenues, her brothers’ recovery remains elusive.
At the Islamabad Press Club sit-in for ending enforced disappearances in Balochistan, instead of listening to the pleas of Baloch mothers, state institutions tried to suppress the voices of the families of the disappeared by associating their struggle against state oppression with the Baloch armed conflict through people perceived to be close to the military establishment. However, today, the voices of the families of the forcibly disappeared are being heard globally.
State institutions cannot deny the severity of this issue by accusing the families of the disappeared. There is a strong voice against state oppression in Balochistan, and if attempts are made to suppress their struggle, their movement will only resurface more prominently on the world stage.
Recently, the hearing in Norway by Dr. Mahrang Baloch on the issue of enforced disappearances and State oppression shows that no matter how much the State turns a blind eye to this grave issue and denies the facts, it cannot escape accountability and will eventually be held responsible.