As the world celebrates Father’s Day on June 15, for many in Balochistan, it is a painful reminder of absence and unanswered questions. Among them is Sammi Deen Baloch, a central leader of the Baloch Yakjehti Committee, whose father, Dr Deen Mohammad Baloch, has been missing for nearly 16 years.
“Father’s Day, for me and countless daughters like me, is not a celebration – it’s a day tied to pain, sorrow, and questions no one answers,” she said in an emotional statement issued Sunday.
Dr Deen Mohammad, a physician and political activist, was allegedly forcibly disappeared on June 28, 2009. Since then, his family has received no official word on his whereabouts.
“For the world, he may just be another name in a file. But to me, he is Baba – he is my strenth,” said Samm. “Every joy, every success, every moment was meant to be shared with him. His absence is not just the loss of one person – it is the destruction of an entire household.”
Reflecting on the long years without her father, she said, “We daughters grow up, but a father’s absence leaves a wound that time cannot heal. It throbs silently beneath everything.”
Addressing her father directly, she added: “Baba Deen Jan, wherever they’ve kept you, in whatever dark cell, I feel your strength. They may have tried to silence you, but they can never break your spirit;it lives on in your daughters and in your people.”
She concluded by renewing her resolve: “I will continue to search for you. I will keep demanding answers. I will keep fighting until I bring you home.”