Disclaimer: This post was originally published in TechNews on Feb 28, 2014
We all know life's not fair. We all deal with loss and death of a loved one and it’s probably the hardest thing anyone in this world can go through. But what makes the situation worse is when your loved ones are missing. You live every day in dual feeling of hope-fear, hope that they will return and fear that they might not. This is the feeling which many Baluch families are living with since 2007.
Writing history as Abdul Qadeer Baloch (also referred to as “Mama Qadeer”) aged 72, under the aegis of the Voice of Missing Baloch Persons (VMBP), set on foot to Islamabad from Quetta three months ago, hoping to raise awareness about human rights violations in Baluchistan and demand the recovery of their missing relatives. The families and supporters of the people reportedly whisked away by intelligence agencies from various parts of the restive Baluchistan province, reached Rawalpindi on Thursday, travelling more than 1,245 miles in adverse weather conditions and intimidation by government agencies.
Many people joined them for the long march. One name which is really worth mentioning is, Ali Haider Baloch, a 11-year-old boy, who stopped going to school and joined the long march with his elder sister, Saba. Why did he do this? He did this because his father, Ramzan Baloch was abducted in front of his eyes. Farzana Majid Baloch, secretary general of VBMP and the moving spirit behind this historical long march, is not a layman. In fact, she is a well-educated woman who is well aware of what she is doing. She did her master’s in biochemistry from Baluchistan University and has been raising voice for the protection of her younger brother Zakir Majid Baloch since 2009. But when there was no light at the end of the tunnel, she chose the beacon of hope and initiated this long march with her fellow beings.
Recently, Pakistani media has been emphasizing about the thing that Mama Qadeer and Ali Haider Baloch have made history and are unaware of this fact. They reported: “They broke the 84-year-old record of Mahatma Gandhi, who travelled 390 kilometres on foot from Ahmadabad to Dandi as part of his famous salt march. When Mahatma Gandhi started his march to protest against the salt laws of British Government in the colonial India he was 61 years old in 1930, the youngest among the first 80 marchers with Gandhi was 18 years old.” (The News, Pakistan)
I urge all Pakistanis to get out of their stereotype obsession and preoccupation with making stupid world records. This man (Mama Qadeer) did not initiate a long march to make a world record or to be flattered with such prominence. His young son Jalil Reki, a political activist, was kidnapped and was killed in the custody of secret agencies. He does not want recognition for his so-called "greater-than-Gandhi-record." He needs, and indeed deserves, justice. His sons' (he says all of Baluchistan’s thousands of missing persons are his sons) murderers should be brought to justice.
I do not deny the fact that they didn’t make history. It’s a reality that they did make history but unfortunately our real rulers are deaf and dumb. They are wall-faced and stone-hearted. Defense Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif, who visited their camp in December 2013 in Karachi, assured Mama Qadeer Baloch that their dear ones will be produced in courts soon. The Defense Minister of Pakistan himself is defenseless. He can't defend either Baluch pedestrian marchers or human rights. He won't plead the case of Baluch hushed voices in the torture cells. He made a false promise to them. All I can say to my people is: “don’t give up because we still have something to give.” Nothing is really over until the moment we stop trying and soon this dark dawn will turn into a bright day where falsehood is bound to perish and truth to triumph.
Link to original post: Mama Qadeer Baloch breaks Gandhi’s civil disobedience marching record after 84 years
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