Not a trace: Bring back my father, pleads Wahid Baloch’s daughter

120 days have passed since the alleged abduction of the social worker

KARACHI: I am tired of giving false assurances to my younger siblings and my ailing mother and grandmother who keep asking about my father, cried 20-year-old Hani Baloch. Her father, Abdul Wahid Baloch, went missing from the Toll Plaza on Super Highway on July 26 while returning to Karachi from rural Sindh.

“Our living conditions have worsened ever since my father went missing and I demand the immediate recovery of my father by the government,” she demanded while addressing a press conference organised by the Human Right Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) at Karachi Press Club on Friday. Members of civil society also attended the press conference and expressed solidarity with Hani.

Wahid is a 52-year-old telephone operator at Civil Hospital, Karachi, and is also well known in his circle for his love of books and social work.



“Earlier, I felt alone and isolated but the support of civil society, especially the HRCP, has given me a lot of courage”, said Hani. “However, I believe that 120 days with no sign of my father explains the slow pace of rule of law in the country.

I heard from a lot of people that my father is a criminal but my response to them is that even if he is a criminal then present him in court and prove him guilty for whatever crime he has committed.”

Also addressing the press conference, HRCP vice-president Asad Iqbal Butt said that they have come here with members of civil society and have made them signatories to a petition seeking the release of Wahid. He added that Anis Haroon of the Women Action Forum, Saeed Baloch of the Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum, Nasir Mansoor of the National Trade Union Federation, Sharafat Ali of the Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research, HRCP chairperson Zohra Yusuf and many other activists have signed the petition, demanding Wahid’s release.

Butt told The Express Tribune that this is one of the few cases in which an FIR has been lodged against intelligence agencies. The next hearing for their petition in the high court will be held on December 1, where law enforcement agencies will submit their response in court, according to him.

Yusuf also addressed the press conference and shared that the Senate standing committee on human rights also called upon members of the HRCP, who presented them with the facts they have unearthed about the case.

After this, the senators suggested that both the federal and provincial governments should become involved in the case as this will be a test case for them to recover missing persons, she added.

Yusuf also said that they will fight this case until Hani’s father is recovered in order to set an example for other missing persons’ cases.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 26^th, 2016.