BNM Secretary General Dr Manan Baloch letter to The World.

MEDIA PRESS AND NEWS 

BNM Secretary General Dr Manan Baloch letter to The World.


 The Baloch National Movement would like to invite your attention towards the long march of the relatives of Baloch people who have been forcibly disappeared by Pakistan’s security forces. The marchers -- led by Mama Qadeer, a 70-year-old man whose young son was killed by Pakistan’s intelligence agencies in November 2011 after two-and-a-half-years of incommunicado detention -- have so far travelled around 1000 kilometers. Among the marchers are 10-year-old Ali Haider whose father is missing, and Farzana Majeed, who has been protesting for four years for the recovery of her brother Zakir Majeed after he was abducted by security forces on June 8, 2009. The marchers set out on their journey on October 27 from Quetta, and travelled on foot to Karachi, covering a distance of more than 700 kilometers. When the government refused to release the Baloch people in incommunicado detention of its intelligence agencies, the participants decided to continue their march to highlight the grave issue of enforced disappearances. On December 13, 2013, they set out on a further 1500-kilometer journey on foot from Karachi to Islamabad. They are still on way. They aim at highlighting the issue at the UN’s office in Islamabad, as the Pakistan government has shut all other doors of justice on them. The young and old participants of the long march have been walking day and night for three months, with blistered feet, to seek justice for their ‘missing’ relatives. They have been attacked and threatened by intelligence agencies during the long march, but they didn’t stop. The Pakistan security forces have been engaged in a kill-and-dump operation in Balochistan since 2009 in Balochistan to crush the Baloch movement for an independent state, while enforced disappearances have been taking place since as early as 2001. On April 3, 2009, Pakistan security forces picked up three key Baloch leaders (Ghulam Mohammed Baloch, Lala Munir and Sher Mohammed Baloch) from the office of former Speaker Balochistan Assembly Kachkol Ali. After three days, their bullet-riddled and tortured bodies were found dumped in the Kech district. Since then, the kill-and-dump operation has increased with each passing day. Apart from reports of Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the UN’s fact-finding mission to probe the enforced disappearances in Balochistan, no substantial effort has been made to reign in Pakistan’s security forces from committing such grave human rights violations against the Baloch people. As the desperate relatives of Baloch ‘missing’ persons are staging a historic long march to highlight the issue, it’s high time the human rights groups and other relevant authorities take concrete measures to stop enforced disappearances and kill-and-dump operations in Balochistan. We urge you to raise the issue at relevant forums as it might help put an end to the grave human rights abuses in Balochistan.

Yours Truly,

Dr Manan Baloch,

Secretary General Baloch National Movement (BNM)

http://thebnm.org/presspages.php?postid=83#.Urs3SRz3GSp