Chakar Baloch: The 10-year-old victim of Balochistan turmoil
Clashes between TTP and army attract passionate debate every day, unlike the fighting in Balochistan.
Clashes between TTP and army attract passionate debate every day, unlike the fighting in Balochistan.
QUETTA:
Chakar Baloch had his whole life before him when unknown men kidnapped him near a market in Balochistan.
Three days later his body was found in a stream, making him another victim of the shadowy fight in the province.
In Chakar's family, they no longer count the men kidnapped, detained, tortured or beaten.
Chakar's cousin and grandfather were detained then released in October, then it was another cousin, Sanaullah, who was taken. He has not been seen since, according to his family.
Feeling threatened, the family left their home in the remote district of Panjgur to seek refuge in Turbat.
Late in the afternoon of January 7, Chakar was playing in a lane when according to his family a group of men, some in uniform and some in civilian clothes, snatched him and fled by motorbike.
The family complained to the police but nothing happened.
Three days later the messy-haired boy was fished out of a nearby river, his slight body hit with at least two bullet wounds, according to photos seen by AFP.
"He was a lovely child. He loved playing football, cricket and video games like other boys his age," a member of his family said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
"I believe that he was killed due to the political activity of the whole family.
"They wanted to give the message to the family, 'See what we can do to you - if we cannot catch the elders then we will hit the children.'"
The authorities insist the family is wrong and Chakar was killed by separatist militants who tried to pin the blame on security forces when they realised they had killed a child.
In Pakistan, clashes between the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan and the army attract passionate debate every day, unlike the fighting in Balochistan.
The idea of giving greater autonomy to the province, the size of Italy but with only nine million inhabitants, is highly sensitive in Pakistan.
Balochistan, spread over an unforgiving landscape of mountains and deserts abutting Iran and Afghanistan, is rich in gas and mineral deposits.
In recent years, many people suspected of links to separatist groups have mysteriously disappeared, allegedly at the hands of the intelligence agencies, and never been seen again.
"Thousands of people are missing in Balochistan, we have a list of 2,850 cases of missing persons," Nasrullah Baloch, the chairman of the Voice of Baloch Missing Persons (VBMP) told AFP.
"Most of them are political activists. When they don't find the political activists they pick up the relatives, the family members of these activists."
The authorities dispute the figures given by the campaigners, putting the number of missing at less than 100.
Sometimes they reappear after months or years in detention. Or dead, their bodies left by a road or in a riverbed, a strategy dubbed "kill and dump".
Tahir Hussain Khan, the head of the Balochistan section of the independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, said 460 bodies have been found up to now, most of them political activists.
In January, the authorities announced the discovery of a mass grave containing 13 bodies, buried just below the surface in the province.
Unusually, the authorities announced an inquiry into the grisly find, perhaps hoping to show good faith to the insurgents to get them to take part in a peace process.
The rebels attack trains, gas installations, security forces and people they accuse of "colonising" Balochistan.
They also threaten local media when they fail to publish their statements.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has tried in recent months to negotiate with the TTP to end their insurgency.
He has also put a former rebel, Abdul Malik Baloch, in charge of Balochistan as chief minister, in the hope of building bridges with the rebels.
"I am trying to convince the insurgents that you should come to the table and talk," the chief minister told AFP, adding that past insurgencies in the province had been ended through negotiations.
"I think it will be better for the Baloch and Balochistan that we should go for a dialogue bringing together insurgents and tribes, this is the only solution."
According to a government source, preliminary contacts have been established with the disparate half dozen groups that make up the movement.
Part of the sensitivity around Balochistan among officials stems from their belief that the insurgent movement is funded by arch-rivals India as part of efforts to destabilise the country.
The officials also complain that European countries such as Britain and Switzerland, where some of the group leaders are based, do not do enough to stop their activities.
Balochistan home minister Sarfaraz Bugti told AFP: "What we think is that Indian government and Indian (intelligence) agency RAW is supporting these groups."
Ten years since the start of the current uprising, the Balochistan question remains unsolved and innocent youngsters like Chakar pay the ultimate price for the involvement of their relatives.
Chakar Baloch had his whole life before him when unknown men kidnapped him near a market in Balochistan.
Three days later his body was found in a stream, making him another victim of the shadowy fight in the province.
In Chakar's family, they no longer count the men kidnapped, detained, tortured or beaten.
Chakar's cousin and grandfather were detained then released in October, then it was another cousin, Sanaullah, who was taken. He has not been seen since, according to his family.
Feeling threatened, the family left their home in the remote district of Panjgur to seek refuge in Turbat.
Late in the afternoon of January 7, Chakar was playing in a lane when according to his family a group of men, some in uniform and some in civilian clothes, snatched him and fled by motorbike.
The family complained to the police but nothing happened.
Three days later the messy-haired boy was fished out of a nearby river, his slight body hit with at least two bullet wounds, according to photos seen by AFP.
"He was a lovely child. He loved playing football, cricket and video games like other boys his age," a member of his family said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
"I believe that he was killed due to the political activity of the whole family.
"They wanted to give the message to the family, 'See what we can do to you - if we cannot catch the elders then we will hit the children.'"
The authorities insist the family is wrong and Chakar was killed by separatist militants who tried to pin the blame on security forces when they realised they had killed a child.
In Pakistan, clashes between the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan and the army attract passionate debate every day, unlike the fighting in Balochistan.
The idea of giving greater autonomy to the province, the size of Italy but with only nine million inhabitants, is highly sensitive in Pakistan.
Balochistan, spread over an unforgiving landscape of mountains and deserts abutting Iran and Afghanistan, is rich in gas and mineral deposits.
In recent years, many people suspected of links to separatist groups have mysteriously disappeared, allegedly at the hands of the intelligence agencies, and never been seen again.
"Thousands of people are missing in Balochistan, we have a list of 2,850 cases of missing persons," Nasrullah Baloch, the chairman of the Voice of Baloch Missing Persons (VBMP) told AFP.
"Most of them are political activists. When they don't find the political activists they pick up the relatives, the family members of these activists."
The authorities dispute the figures given by the campaigners, putting the number of missing at less than 100.
Sometimes they reappear after months or years in detention. Or dead, their bodies left by a road or in a riverbed, a strategy dubbed "kill and dump".
Tahir Hussain Khan, the head of the Balochistan section of the independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, said 460 bodies have been found up to now, most of them political activists.
In January, the authorities announced the discovery of a mass grave containing 13 bodies, buried just below the surface in the province.
Unusually, the authorities announced an inquiry into the grisly find, perhaps hoping to show good faith to the insurgents to get them to take part in a peace process.
The rebels attack trains, gas installations, security forces and people they accuse of "colonising" Balochistan.
They also threaten local media when they fail to publish their statements.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has tried in recent months to negotiate with the TTP to end their insurgency.
He has also put a former rebel, Abdul Malik Baloch, in charge of Balochistan as chief minister, in the hope of building bridges with the rebels.
"I am trying to convince the insurgents that you should come to the table and talk," the chief minister told AFP, adding that past insurgencies in the province had been ended through negotiations.
"I think it will be better for the Baloch and Balochistan that we should go for a dialogue bringing together insurgents and tribes, this is the only solution."
According to a government source, preliminary contacts have been established with the disparate half dozen groups that make up the movement.
Part of the sensitivity around Balochistan among officials stems from their belief that the insurgent movement is funded by arch-rivals India as part of efforts to destabilise the country.
The officials also complain that European countries such as Britain and Switzerland, where some of the group leaders are based, do not do enough to stop their activities.
Balochistan home minister Sarfaraz Bugti told AFP: "What we think is that Indian government and Indian (intelligence) agency RAW is supporting these groups."
Ten years since the start of the current uprising, the Balochistan question remains unsolved and innocent youngsters like Chakar pay the ultimate price for the involvement of their relatives.