Truth behind the disappearance of Baloch citizens

Balochistan has been in news for a pervasive, volatile issue of disappeared people

Balochistan has always been in the news for the wrong reasons. There is never a quiet moment in the province that occupies Pakistan’s largest landscape. If not marred with insurgency or repeated natural disasters, expedient politics involving Sardars, Nawabs and local politicians threaten the province’s peace and stability. For the last many weeks, Balochistan has been in the news for a pervasive and volatile issue of disappeared people. A group of young adults, mostly, started a protest march from Balochistan’s southern Kech district towards Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad, to register their anguish over the killing of a young boy allegedly in the Counter Terrorism Department custody.

The noteworthy feature of the protest was its gender formation. Young, aspiring women were in the lead, seeking redressal of their grievances from the state. Who else would they turn to if not the state, often compared with a mother, responsible for protecting, sacrificing and looking after her children regardless of complexity or adversity level? However, like any other relationship, a mother-child relation is also reciprocal. Let’s put it this way: a state-citizen relation is a two-way street built on mutual respect and goodwill. In this context, let’s examine Balaach Mola Bakhsh’s relation with the state.

Like in any crime, there are two versions to the Balaach killing too. One is that of the law enforcers i.e. the CTD, and the other is of the victim’s family.

As per the CTD statement, Balaach was killed in “armed clashes with the militant” on the Pasni Road in the north of Kech’s district headquarters, Turbat. He was not the only suspect killed in the clash; three more breathed their last in the encounter. The clash between the CTD and the militants took place in a house at Pasni Road where a group of insurgents were hiding. The whereabouts of the house were tipped off to the CTD by none other but Balaach. During the operation in which Balaach served as a guide, a gunshot from the insurgents proved fatal, and he died.

As per the family statement, Balaach was arrested on October 29. However, he was not produced before the court until a month later. And later, he was eliminated in an extrajudicial killing by the CTD.

This discrepancy is worth sorting, and only an impartial investigation can gather the truth. The burden is on the Balochistan government and the political stakeholders of the province, who spend more time in Islamabad than their constituencies.

However, some questions are worth attending, such as: Is the state involved in the so-called forced disappearances? Is the state only behaving rogue by killing and dumping the Baloch insurgents without giving them the space and luxury of dialogue? Do bullets fired in Balochistan only target the Baloch people? Or do they also harm other victims? Who is responsible for the miseries of Balochistan?

Disappeared people can be divided into three categories. One category of disappeared people is those who have taken up arms against the state. They leave their families and start living in remote and undisclosed places. The second category of disappeared people are those who leave their homes, either due to personal reasons or to earn their livelihood, but for some reason never return or contact their families. The third category is of those who are picked up by the state on the charges of insurgency.

Their disappearance of those who voluntarily leave their families either to join insurgency or to walk out of their responsibilities cannot be blamed on the state. Any attempt to do so is a deliberate attempt to seed discord between the state and its citizens.

So far, 77 per cent of all cases of disappearances have been solved.

As for the second question whether the state engages with the rogue elements in Balochistan, the answer is evident in the number of insurgents that had recently surrendered.

Gulzar Imam alias Shambay and Sarfaraz Bangalzai were pardoned despite the fact that they had committed heinous crimes. The state has declared amnesty for all those willing to renounce violence. Even Balaach had been allowed to get mainstreamed despite being involved in spreading unrest in Balochistan, targeting law enforcement agencies and killing innocent people. He was caught red-handed with five kilograms of explosives. In 2021, he attacked FC vehicles and checkposts with hand grenades. The same year, he murdered a shopkeeper, a Baloch citizen and a resident of Ghotki in Turbat.

As for the third question: do bullets fired in Balochistan only target the Baloch people? Or do they also harm other victims? The answer is evident in the data that tells us that in the last ten months, 22 incidents of target killings have been reported in Turbat. Six labourers were killed in October and four in November this year.

Finally, who bears responsibility for the sufferings in Balochistan? The answer lies in the conduct of the Baloch ruling class, comprising Sardars, Nawabs and politicians. They bend every law and rule to their advantage, which has impeded Balochistan’s progress despite the announcement of lavish reform packages. If the Baloch stakeholders choose to stand with their people and build a robust local governance system, no external power responsible for the unrest will have any reason to meddle.

Tragically, no human rights organisations or advocates have ever expressed their condolences or demonstrated in support of the labourers who lost their lives in Balochistan.

Balochistan could be a simmering issue, but it is solvable — a right perspective and honest leadership are all required to put things in order.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 30^th, 2023.

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