Confusion, pain and longing, after they vanished

Relatives of Baloch missing persons pin hopes on the SC for recovery.

ISLAMABAD:

It was a painful night for his family when Frontier Corps officials along with security agency personnel entered her house and abducted Sameer.

“My brother was screaming, ‘Baba, help me’ and suddenly his voice vanished,” said Sumiya Abdul Kareem, a resident of Turbat and sister of Sameer Abdul Kareem.

For the past six months, Sameer’s family has been struggling to know where he is. “We do not have a clue. No one is helping us, we are helpless,” she said

At the time of her brother’s abduction, Sumiya was a student of third year, but had to quit her studies due to the sudden change of circumstances.

In another incident of mysterious abduction, Mehlab Baloch, eight, from Balochistan said, “My father was reading books in his office when some people came and took him away. We do not know where he is. I badly miss him.”

While Baloch’s 14-year-old brother had to quit his studies and work as a farmer to earn a livelihood for the family, the void of their missing father haunts them day and night.

Highlighting such tales of agony, a press conference was held on Wednesday by the relatives and family members of Baloch activists who went missing. These people had camped for the last 10 days outside the National Press Club to register their protest and make their voices heard.

Farzana Bibi, sister of a kidnapped Baloch student organisation leader Zakir Majeed said, “The pretense of law and justice being provided to the citizens should be put to rest forever if the Supreme Court does not have the power to demand the immediate recovery of all missing persons.”

The briefing coincided with the SC hearing of the missing person’s case which took place the same day. “All the alleged defenders of the law should be put on trail as it is the security agencies that are abducting thousands of innocents with impunity,” she said.

A representative of Voice for Baloch Missing Person (VBMP) said, “The ball is now in the court of those who claim to be defenders of democracy, to ensure a resolution for the thousands of families who have been suffering incessantly for many years.”

Speaking on the occasion Nasrullah Baloch,VBMP chairperson, said, “This is the second time we have set up a protest camp to project the plight of thousands of Baloch who have been abducted over the past few years.”

“Last year Justice Javed Iqbal gave us assurances that things would improve but instead the situation in Balochistan has deteriorated further,” he said.

He said not only have the kidnappings continued, a new reign of terror had spread throughout the province after mutilated bodies of abducted youth were being recovered on almost a daily basis.

Speaking on the occasion Qadeer Baloch, vice chairman VBMP, said the families of the young men who have been abducted want to know the crimes committed by their loved ones. “They should be charged openly in the court of law and if found guilty, the government has the right to punish them,” he said. “The state is breeding enormous resentment within ordinary Baloch people and creating a fertile ground for separatist movements,” he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 14^th, 2011.