Silencing voices: Journalist Razzaq Baloch found dead in Karachi

A slip of paper was found on the victim’s body stating his and his father’s name.

KARACHI:

Haji Abdul Razzaq Baloch, the Baloch journalist who was found dead on Wednesday, was wearing the same clothes when he was seen last by his family five months ago.

“Since his face was disfigured, I recognised him from the off-white shalwar kameez he was wearing the day he was abducted. A mark on his left foot also helped us identify him,” said a weeping Saeeda Sarbazi, the sister of the deceased.

Two bodies of Baloch men were found dumped near a deserted plot in Surjani Town on Wednesday morning, a day after two other bodies were found in the same vicinity.

Initially, the family rejected that the body was of their loved one since it was in a bad condition, but when Sarbazi went to the Edhi morgue at night, she recognised her brother.

The 42-year-old journalist and father of three worked for an Urdu newspaper, Daily Tawar, printed from Mastung.

On March 24, the journalist, who actively spoke for Baloch rights, went missing himself while he was on his way to work in Lyari.

Soon after his abduction, his office was torched and other journalists working for the paper went into hiding.

The family said they came to know about his death through a Baloch news channel, Vsh news. “The police informed us that a slip of paper found on the body mentioned his name,” said the family.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 23^rd, 2013.