Talking about Balochistan: Remembering those who went missing

Families of 21,000 people, including a school teacher and her child, are unaware of their whereabouts

KARACHI: The nature of violence, in Balochistan, is silently changing. From a strictly separatist movement, it is slowing taking a turn towards religious extremism. According to speakers at a seminar, the Islamic State (IS) has made its way into Balochistan and is carrying out attacks on schools, minorities, places of worship and nationalists.

The seminar was organised by the Voice For Baloch Missing Persons for the International Human Rights Day at Karachi Press Club on Wednesday. Several Baloch and human rights activists attended the seminar to discuss the core issues of conflict in Balochistan.



The organisation’s leader, Mama Qadeer Baloch, who led one of the longest marches in the country - from Quetta to Islamabad via Karachi - said that Balochistan’s situation was being made worse by using religious extremists to target Baloch nationals. “Militants groups, including the IS, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and Sipah-e-Sahaba are being installed in Balochistan to weaken our movement,” he said while talking about how these groups were operating in high-security areas.

A chilling revelation

Mama Qadeer presented a detailed list of abductions and killings of Baloch activists allegedly at the hands of law enforcement agencies. He said that at least 21,000 people, including a school teacher identified as Zarina Marri and her child, were still missing. He added that so far, only 6,000 bodies had been recovered.

“Hundreds of Baloch were killed in air raids during former President Pervez Musharraf’s government,” he said while lashing out against the military operation in the province.

According to Mama Qadeer, more than 200,000 people, including Shias and Hindus, migrated from Balochistan due to the worsening law and order situation. He claimed that reports from human rights organisations had suggested that the state should opt for a more peaceful resolution in Balochistan rather than using the military to sort out their differences. He added that none of their pleas, however, were heard.

Mama Qadeer demanded that the covert military operation in Balochistan must stop and the United Nations observers should carry out an independent investigation to see what the ground realities in the province were.

The vice-chairperson of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), Asad Iqbal Butt, talked about the presence of the IS and other militants in Balochistan. “We [the HRCP] have seen IS wall-chalking in Quetta,” he said. “Do the security agencies not know who is behind it?”

While discussing how violence in the province had increased, he said that recently a 14-year-old boy had been killed and this, he added, was unheard of. Butt claimed that after the teenager had been murdered, the body was dragged through the market and his family was forbidden from performing his funeral rites.

No end in sight

The chairperson of the Baloch Students Organisation-Azad, Bano Karima Baloch said that religious militancy was impacting education negatively. “In some areas of the province, girls are prohibited to attend schools now,” she said. “Intellectuals and teachers are being targeted to cripple the nation.” She added that nearly four days ago, a teacher identified as Zahid Baloch, was murdered in Gwadar and religious extremists had claimed responsibility.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 12^th, 2014.