Campaigners against enforced disappearances are likely to reach Karachi on Monday. DESIGN: SIDRAH MOIZ KHAN
Long march protesters led by relatives of missing Baloch persons reached Uthal on Saturday after walking 571 kilometres on the RCD Highway from Quetta. Karachi is now 125 kilometres away for the marchers on foot.
The march is likely to reach Karachi on Monday or Tuesday where the relatives will set up a hunger strike camp in front of the Karachi Press Club.
As many as 20 people, including eight women and children, started their march from the Quetta Press Club 19 days ago.
“The feet of all participants are bruised and bandaged,” said Mama Abdul Qadir, vice president of the Voice for Baloch Missing Persons (VFBMP), an advocacy group striving for the safe recovery of Baloch missing persons.
The long march was provided with an ambulance in Lasbela district, but the vehicle broke down after couple of kilometres.
“My father Din Mohammed, a doctor by profession, was abducted by security agencies from Khuzdar in 2009,” said Sammi. Since then, he said, his family was disturbed. “If he was involved in any crime, he must be brought before the court. I want my father back,” she said.
“The objective of the long march is to highlight human rights violations in Balochistan where people are being kept in illegal custody,” said Nasrallah Baloch, chairman of VFBMP.
There are conflicting statements about the number of missing people in Balochistan.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 17th, 2013.
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@Noman: Well done, just shows the callous attitude of our urbanites. You are worried about semantics and grammar when hundreds if not thousands of Balouch are tortured, missing and killed indiscriminately. Pity the nation.
Has any one seen any coverage of this on the main stream media? TV or Print? Unfortunately we are too busy parsing the definitions of "shaheed" and how best to use this controversy to score political points. And of course what ever happened to Awaraan? How about starting a debate on whether those who were killed in this earthquake can be called "shaheed" or not? Can the same apply to those who died in the recent hurricane in Philippine. Or better still what if some of those who perished in this catastrophe were not Muslims? What will happen to them?
In the mean time what matters to the ordinary people of Pakistan can wait; they have already learned to wait for the past six decades and can easily wait for another few. OUr TV pundits have more important things to do, such as making it sure that JI is demonstrated to be an enemy of Pakistan and in cahoots with those who are bent upon destroying it and consequently should be declared as "Ghaddar"
“My father Din Mohammed, a doctor by profession, was abducted by security agencies from Khuzdar in 2009,” said Sammi. Since then, he said, his family was disturbed. “If he was involved in any crime, he must be brought before the court. I want my father back,” she said.
Since then, she said, her family, not she said, his family was disturbed. This sentence needs correction.
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