Protesting enforced disappearances: Baloch marchers reach Rawalpindi

Members of civil society join the march.

RAWALPINDI: At 7, Mir Bueragh Baloch is the youngest participant of the long march organised by the Voice for Missing Baloch, which reached the garrison city on Thursday, after covering distance of 3,000 kilometres from Quetta.

“I came here to seek justice for those Baloch who are still missing and for my father’s killers,” said Bueregh. Bueragh’s father Mir Jalil Reki was picked up from Quetta and his mutilated body was found after three months.

The march has entered its 160th day since it started from Quetta. The small group includes women, children whose fathers, brothers and cousins have either been killed or have been missing since long. They were holding banners inscribed with slogans like “Wake up UN”, “Stop genocide of Baloch” and “Justice for the Baloch”. Members of civil society also joined the march when it reached Rawalpindi.



Mama Qadeer Baloch, who is leading the march, said the enforced disappearance intensified since the PPP government came into power.

“In 2005, former interior minister Aftab Sherpao said that 6,000 Baloch were in government custody,” he claimed. We don’t trust the government and just want the United Nations and other humanitarian bodies to take notice of the kill and dump policy of our intelligence agencies, he said.

“My son was shot three times in the heart. The killers, after failing to defeat his heart, calmed it forever,” said Qadeer. “We’ve lost trust in the judiciary as well the government.” He claimed 1,500 persons have been killed and over 18,000 are still missing.



Referring to a mass grave found in Khuzdar, he said, he believed the rest of 18,000 had also been killed and buried in mass graves across the province. We will present a memorandum to the UN and stage a sit-in outside its office, he added.

“How would you feel if your brother or son were picked up and after some time you found his mutilated body?” asked Farzana Majeed Baloch.

The marchers alleged they were harassed and threatened by the government to end the march.

“We were stopped from entering cantonment areas and warned to go back but it is better to die here than be picked up and tortured to death,” said Wahid Baloch, while holding a banner inscribed with a demand to stop genocide of the Baloch.

Simmi Baloch, 17, a 10th grader, has not seen her father for the last four years. She alleges that he was picked up by security agencies from their home in 2010.

“What is his fault, where is he now? If he is guilty produce him in court,” she demanded. The marchers will spend the night in Rawalpindi and proceed to Islamabad on Friday.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 28^th, 2014.