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Pakistan Long March Ignored by Media

Zeeshan S.

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Families of Baloch missing persons march (and march) in a desperate bid to draw attention to their plight.

About twenty families in Balochistan province of Pakistan are on a journey of protest from one city to another, calling on the government of Pakistan, the UN and the international community to address the issue of Baloch missing persons. But who is listening? Says one of the female marchers, whose husband was abducted in 2010, “The media has been ignoring us. The whole point of this march is to raise the issue of our missing brothers, but how is that possible if the media ignores us? How can we get our message through? The negligence is astonishing.”

The Voice for Baloch Missing Person (VBMP) organized the march, which started in Quetta, the capital city of Balochistan and will culminate as a sit-in in Karachi, the capital of Sind. The march, in which the families will cover 730 km on foot, is an attempt to highlight the issue. But for the first 25 days of the march, which is still ongoing, Pakistani media has been largely ignoring the protestors, which some editors confess is due to fears of reprisal. The marchers are expected to reach Karachi in a few days.

There is no agreement on the figures of those missing. Nationalist groups in Balochistan claim that up to 18,000 Baloch persons and teenage boys are missing, while independent sources claim that more than 6,000 persons have gone missing after being arrested. The issue of Baloch missing persons is not new. Thousands continue to disappear in Pakistan as a separatist movement simmers in Balochistan.

The nationalists say that Balochistan was forcibly annexed in March 1948 and demand a separate homeland where they can live in peace. The Baloch militants have fought five insurgencies against Pakistan security forces, with the first four fought in the isolated tribal areas of eastern Balochistan.

During the march, relatives of the abducted chant slogans calling on the government and international human rights organizations to acknowledge the issue and investigate the abduction and murders of their brothers and sons.

Among the marchers is the seven-year-old son of Jalil Reki, who was according to the marchers “extrajudicially killed after a year of his disappearance in an ISI torture cell.”

Others include Nasrullah Baloch, whose uncle has been missing for 11 years, Mama Qadeer Baloch, whose cousin has been missing since 2001 and whose son was killed during his detention, and Farzana Majeed, whose brother Zakir Majeed Baloch has been missing since 2009 after his arrest by the Frontier Corp (FC). All of these marchers accuse the military and FC of abducting, torturing and killing their loved ones.

Farzana Majeed has been fighting to get information about her missing brothers and has spoken out frequently on the issue. During the march, she protested the media blackout and said, “There are women and children protesting peacefully in this march but the media is turning a blind eye, which shows its inequitable approach towards Baloch people.”

Added Majeed: “The media should tell us what is our fault? Why are they ignoring our march for the recovery of our loved ones. We have been marching for the past eight days but the media is completely silent and by ignoring our peaceful and democratic protest the media is pushing us against the wall.”

The Vice Chairman of VBMP, Qadeer Baloch said ”There are some people who are concerned by the awareness this long march can bring and have started to bully the families of the long marchers back in Quetta.” He added, “The houses of several people of those who have openly shown support for the long march have been raided.”

The VBMP official asserts that despite the challenges and continuous threat, the march will continue to its final destination. “Those who thought we will get tired in a day or two should know that there is blood gushing from the feet of our sisters and daughters but they are determined to continue the march at all costs.”

The Diplomat sought comment from the military, without success. However, according to other sources, Pakistani officials have repeatedly insisted that they are not involved in abducting or killing Baloch. This is contrary to recent statements by the Balochistan provincial government, which has highlighted the issue of Baloch missing persons and has also given its own figures of those missing.

According to groups in Balochistan, since June 2010, 730 missing persons have been extrajudicially killed after their arrest and disappearance. Balochistan government officials confirm the extrajudicial killings of 530 personsduring this time.

Early this month when Dr. Abdul Malik, Chief Minister of Balochistan, spoke at the Karachi Press Club about attempts to maintain law and order in Balochistan, he admitted that his government had failed to solve the issue of disappearances. Baloch activists blame his government of not making any efforts to solve the human right abuses carried out in the province. Says activist Faizan Baloch, “It’s a weak government and we did not support the elections, so technically Dr. Malik is not a democratically elected leader.” He adds that the provincial government “has no control over law enforcement agencies to solve the issue of disappearances.”

The 20 families of the missing persons from Balochistan meanwhile continue their long march.

Pakistan Long March Ignored by Media | The Diplomat
 
The 20 families of the missing persons from Balochistan meanwhile continue their long march.

Weren't thousands of Baloch are missing according to this liars. May be families of those missing persons don't care about their missing persons. :)
 
if today will not wake up ......... than no buddy can stop separation of Baluchistan
there society is very complex, people are very poor and so called sardar are very rich

actually you need to look at this from different prospective ,
 
Weren't thousands of Baloch are missing according to this liars. May be families of those missing persons don't care about their missing persons. :)


This lie is soon going to be debunked.

Foreign agencies behind missing persons: Justice Javed Iqbal

Report on missing persons finalized: Justice (Retd)Javed Iqbal | PAKISTAN - geo.tv

  • Chief of the inquiry commission on ‘missing persons’ Justice (R) Javed Iqbal has disclosed that foreign agencies with a well organized network and modern equipment were involved in the issue of missing persons.


  • He asserted that baseless propaganda was being done pertaining to the number of such people.


  • For the past decade, authorities have been unable to compile the complete details of those on the list of missing persons


  • The inquiry commission’s chief further said that the list also contained the names of those living abroad and also those who have been involved in terrorism-related cases.


  • Chief minister of Balochistan had sent a list of 945 ‘missing’ persons to the commission. Javed Iqbal moreover said that complete details of even 45 persons on the list had not been made available. He said in all 460 people are missing from across the country and of them 57 are from Balochistan.


  • He rejected the impression that thousands of people were missing from Balochistan.


  • Criminals or people kidnapped for ransom do not come in the category of missing persons. He further claimed that there was concrete evidence regarding the involvement of foreign agencies in the country. He said Pakistani intelligence and civil institutions failed to break the foreign agencies network due to lack of coordination and absence of modern arms and equipment.


  • He claimed that some of the missing persons were in Afghanistan but they could not be recovered because they were in US-controlled territory.


  • Federal government had taken the missing persons’ issue seriously but trust on the state’s institutions was imperative in order to resolve it.


  • People from Marri and Bugti tribes who have gone to Afghanistan at their will cannot be considered as missing persons. He further said that there are people in the missing persons lists who were involved in killings and dacoities and got bails from courts and then disappeared.
 
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Thing is these missing people are only pointing out Pakistani agency involvement , but reality is that there are more agencies working in Baluchistan these days... it could be them as well..

Some of them are involved in anti Pakistan activities..... these family members should also as stopped them doing the anti Pakistan stuff too in the first place..

There is clear report that some of these missing persons were working for BLA ...

When Pakistani gov. says they are not in any agency hands, they do not believe them, so there is no way to solve this issue... These family members are not aware of the activities of them....
 
if today will not wake up ......... than no buddy can stop separation of Baluchistan
there society is very complex, people are very poor and so called sardar are very rich

actually you need to look at this from different prospective ,

Hahahahahaha :D
 
It's unfortunate that there are missing persons.

But you have to see clearly with these sort of things, separate the propaganda from what we are sure of.

Balochistan like any other province has reports of missing people. KPK has a significant list of missing persons, if memory serves me correctly, the missing persons of Pukhtunkhwa are far greater in number.

But do you see the common denominator between the two? I do. Both provinces are at war and suffer from active militancy, they are on the front line with the world's worst neighbour, such a neighbour I don't even wish upon my enemies.

I've seen protesters carrying pictures of men, who were confirmed dead, KIA militants. Other times, the list became populated and some of the missing persons showed up in Afghanistan. Then also, lets not forget, there are HUGE number of social and economic reasons why Balochistan of all provinces has missing persons.

To sum up, I think the whole missing persons thing as tragic as it is, GoP should notice. But people, especially the people of Balochistan have to look around them and drop some of propaganda around.

Only a fraction of the missing persons I'd say are actually validly missing civilians, then another great big chunk of them go missing like they'd go missing anywhere, crime, socio-economic issues, then also militancy, kidnappings, recruitment, murder and so on.

With the above in mind, it would be ridiculous to blame authorities for all the missing persons and extra judicial detention. By all means March for your loved ones, but you wont be doing them justice if you're not going after the real culprits.

if today will not wake up ......... than no buddy can stop separation of Baluchistan
there society is very complex, people are very poor and so called sardar are very rich

actually you need to look at this from different prospective ,

The number one priority for us right now is to remove what caused the revival of insurgency and what has sustained it.

That means dealing with Afghanistan and all the anti-Pak elements within.

Then we can move on to a long term settlement involving, opportunities, development, education and so on. Some of which are already under way.
 
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The Baloch conundrum: Calling a spade a spade - DAWN.COM

The Baloch conundrum: Calling a spade a spade



52b01b7ba6155.jpg


Conflicts of all kinds are by their very nature a catastrophic force which deprives people every last shred of human dignity. Such is the case of Balochistan the largest province which has witnessed perennial state of conflict, turmoil and the suffering which goes with it.


Ahmed Salim, a well-known archivist has captured this genesis of the fifth uprising in a rather rational and logical fashion in his book Balochistan, Azadi Say Subai Bai Ikhtairi Tak. The book has attracted a great deal of importance, owing largely to the Baloch question, which by and large has been ignored by the mainstream media and has rarely surfaced in the public discourse.

This book will prove to be nothing less than a treasure trove for researchers, students and the common readers alike. The book does well to answer the question why even after 66 years the Baloch have been unable to assimilate in the federation.
 
Families of Baloch missing persons march (and march) in a desperate bid to draw attention to their plight.

About twenty families in Balochistan province of Pakistan are on a journey of protest from one city to another, calling on the government of Pakistan, the UN and the international community to address the issue of Baloch missing persons. But who is listening? Says one of the female marchers, whose husband was abducted in 2010, “The media has been ignoring us. The whole point of this march is to raise the issue of our missing brothers, but how is that possible if the media ignores us? How can we get our message through? The negligence is astonishing.”

The Voice for Baloch Missing Person (VBMP) organized the march, which started in Quetta, the capital city of Balochistan and will culminate as a sit-in in Karachi, the capital of Sind. The march, in which the families will cover 730 km on foot, is an attempt to highlight the issue. But for the first 25 days of the march, which is still ongoing, Pakistani media has been largely ignoring the protestors, which some editors confess is due to fears of reprisal. The marchers are expected to reach Karachi in a few days.

There is no agreement on the figures of those missing. Nationalist groups in Balochistan claim that up to 18,000 Baloch persons and teenage boys are missing, while independent sources claim that more than 6,000 persons have gone missing after being arrested. The issue of Baloch missing persons is not new. Thousands continue to disappear in Pakistan as a separatist movement simmers in Balochistan.

The nationalists say that Balochistan was forcibly annexed in March 1948 and demand a separate homeland where they can live in peace. The Baloch militants have fought five insurgencies against Pakistan security forces, with the first four fought in the isolated tribal areas of eastern Balochistan.

During the march, relatives of the abducted chant slogans calling on the government and international human rights organizations to acknowledge the issue and investigate the abduction and murders of their brothers and sons.

Among the marchers is the seven-year-old son of Jalil Reki, who was according to the marchers “extrajudicially killed after a year of his disappearance in an ISI torture cell.”

Others include Nasrullah Baloch, whose uncle has been missing for 11 years, Mama Qadeer Baloch, whose cousin has been missing since 2001 and whose son was killed during his detention, and Farzana Majeed, whose brother Zakir Majeed Baloch has been missing since 2009 after his arrest by the Frontier Corp (FC). All of these marchers accuse the military and FC of abducting, torturing and killing their loved ones.

Farzana Majeed has been fighting to get information about her missing brothers and has spoken out frequently on the issue. During the march, she protested the media blackout and said, “There are women and children protesting peacefully in this march but the media is turning a blind eye, which shows its inequitable approach towards Baloch people.”

Added Majeed: “The media should tell us what is our fault? Why are they ignoring our march for the recovery of our loved ones. We have been marching for the past eight days but the media is completely silent and by ignoring our peaceful and democratic protest the media is pushing us against the wall.”

The Vice Chairman of VBMP, Qadeer Baloch said ”There are some people who are concerned by the awareness this long march can bring and have started to bully the families of the long marchers back in Quetta.” He added, “The houses of several people of those who have openly shown support for the long march have been raided.”

The VBMP official asserts that despite the challenges and continuous threat, the march will continue to its final destination. “Those who thought we will get tired in a day or two should know that there is blood gushing from the feet of our sisters and daughters but they are determined to continue the march at all costs.”

The Diplomat sought comment from the military, without success. However, according to other sources, Pakistani officials have repeatedly insisted that they are not involved in abducting or killing Baloch. This is contrary to recent statements by the Balochistan provincial government, which has highlighted the issue of Baloch missing persons and has also given its own figures of those missing.

According to groups in Balochistan, since June 2010, 730 missing persons have been extrajudicially killed after their arrest and disappearance. Balochistan government officials confirm the extrajudicial killings of 530 personsduring this time.

Early this month when Dr. Abdul Malik, Chief Minister of Balochistan, spoke at the Karachi Press Club about attempts to maintain law and order in Balochistan, he admitted that his government had failed to solve the issue of disappearances. Baloch activists blame his government of not making any efforts to solve the human right abuses carried out in the province. Says activist Faizan Baloch, “It’s a weak government and we did not support the elections, so technically Dr. Malik is not a democratically elected leader.” He adds that the provincial government “has no control over law enforcement agencies to solve the issue of disappearances.”

The 20 families of the missing persons from Balochistan meanwhile continue their long march.

Pakistan Long March Ignored by Media | The Diplomat
All is rubbish.......They have taken the long march to protest against the load shedding and other social stuff as my friend is a Baluch from Zhob he told me abt them as a few people have come from his place for protest against load shedding and they r in F-6 protesting. There is no missing peson's case protest from them as most of them yr from Pathan dominated areas of Baluchistan......


This western source once again has tried to ridicule our people and security forces by reporting it its own purposely manner.......and the still say why we hate them!!!!
 
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