Balochistan: The Voice for Baloch Missing Persons (VBMP) has said that despite 16 years of protests, sit-ins and rallies, the issue of enforced disappearances of political workers, students and other residents of Balochistan remains unresolved. Speaking at a press conference, VBMP Chairman Nasrullah Baloch urged the state and its institutions to realise that the use of force, extra-judicial killings and disappearances of Baloch citizens would not improve the situation in the province.
In the past few years, Dr Mahrang Baloch has emerged as undisputed numero uno among peaceful Baloch activists. She leads the Baloch Yekjehti Movement (BYM), a major peaceful movement of Baloch people, along with several other women activists.
Instead, he called for a serious political approach to address Balochistan’s long-standing grievances. Flanked by family members of the missing, including VBMP General Secretary Hooran Baloch and activist Ghani Baloch, he said the organisation’s protest camp outside the Quetta Press Club had now completed 6,000 days. “This camp has also been set up in various parts of Balochistan, as well as in Karachi and Islamabad. It is viewed across Pakistan and the world as a symbol of peaceful resistance,” he said on Sunday, according to a Dawn report.
Use of force can’t bring peace to Balochistan, Nasrullah Baloch warned. He said that over the past 16 years, the organisation had held protests, seminars and long marches from Quetta to Islamabad, both on foot and by train. Nasrullah Baloch said the VBMP had registered cases of enforced disappearances with the judiciary, inquiry commissions and the federal and provincial governments, and had presented evidence to the relevant authorities despite “serious difficulties and hardships”.
“False cases under the Anti-Terrorism Act were filed against me, General Secretary Hooran Baloch, Vice Chairman Mama Qadeer Baloch and others. We faced arrests and torture, but we did not abandon our struggle,” Nasrullah Baloch said. He claimed that two VBMP district coordinators were extra-judicially killed during the movement, yet the campaign continued. Families of missing persons, he said, submit complete details of their loved ones to the VBMP, which then forwards the cases to the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances and to the provincial government. “The commission initiates legal proceedings within a week and issues notices to the relevant institutions. We also guide victims’ families about legal requirements,” he said.
Drawing on years of experience, he urged the state to understand that peace in Balochistan could not be restored through force. “Thousands of Baloch have been forcibly disappeared and thousands have been killed extra-judicially, yet the situation continues to deteriorate. We appeal to the state to refrain from using force in Balochistan. The issue is political and must be resolved through political dialogue,” he stressed.
He also demanded that all citizens be treated in accordance with the law, that missing persons be recovered, that those facing charges be produced before courts and that extrajudicial arrests and killings be stopped. He called for legislation “in line with human dignity and constitutional principles” to address enforced disappearances.
Nasrullah Baloch also urged the families of missing persons not to remain silent. “Come forward with complete details of your loved ones,” he appealed.
