Eid is an occasion of happiness and for most it means family get-togethers, feasting together, households brimming with laughter and gossip. But for families of missing persons, Eid means little because their loved ones were brutally taken away from them, pushing them into a limbo, engulfed in the flames of uncertainty. Instead of dining in with their families or dressing up and painting their hands with mehendi, daughters like Sammi Deen Baloch, Mehlab Deen Baloch and Saeeda Hameed spent the days leading up to Eid making posters for protest demonstrations seeking the safe recovery of their fathers.
On June 29, when the rest of the country celebrated Eid-ul-Azha, families of Baloch missing persons staged protests in Karachi and Quetta. June 28 marked 14 years since the enforced disappearance of Sammi’s father, Deen Mohammad Baloch, a doctor who was abducted in Ornach, Khuzdar district in Balochistan by plainclothes armed men from the hospital where he was performing his night-duty. Since then, Sammi, then 10-years old, has spent every Eid on the roads, outside Press Clubs in Quetta, Karachi, marching for hundreds of days from Karachi to Islamabad with a picture of her father in hand and a simple question: where is my father and what is his and my family’s crime?
According to Voice for Baloch Missing Persons, a non-government organization representing the families of Baloch missing persons, in Balochistan alone there are more than 5,000 cases of enforced disappearances. This figure is disputed by the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances, formed in 2011, to investigate missing persons cases, which claims that there are some 2,000 active cases from all around the country. But whether there are a few hundred cases or several thousands, the fact is that the tale goes far beyond the statistics and is one of relentless pain and tormenting wait.
The Eid day protest was organized by Baloch Yakjehti Committee along with Sammi Deen Baloch and aimed to demand the release of Dr Deen Mohammad Baloch and that of all missing persons. The rally commenced from Arts Council, Karachi, and marchers took to the Press Club, raising slogans and carrying placards.
Speaking to the crowd, Mehlab Deen Baloch, the younger daughter of Dr Deen Mohammad Baloch spoke of the fear that looms over every family member of missing persons whenever a dead body is found anywhere. Last year in October, the Counter-terrorism Department claimed it had killed four terrorists in an “encounter” but when the pictures circulated on social media, the bodies were verified to be of those previously missing. One of them was a poet, Tabish Waseem, who was abducted on 9th June 2021.
“Whenever any body is dumped and the picture circulates on social media, I zoom into them, and look for a mole that my father, Deen Jaan, has on his nose. Looking at the picture again and again, I think, if not me, then who is about to go through the pain?”, she said as her voice broke into squeak. She added that they had been going through this torment for 14 years and yet when they take to the roads, they are faced with state’s crackdown.
Sheema Kirmani, a prominent social activist, said that when she sees Sammi and Mehlab she can’t help but think that they are children who are meant to enjoy a carefree childhood, but instead they have been on the roads ever since their father disappeared. “If Dr Deen Muhammad Baloch was a criminal, why not present him in court,” asks Kirmani.
The youngest protester in the crowd was Shahree, one-and-a-half year old toddler of Seema Baloch, whose brother Shabir Baloch was allegedly picked up by the security agencies on 4th October 2016. Since then Baloch’s wife, aged mother and sister have been protesting for his release.
Political parties speak about the issue of missing persons in Balochistan only when in opposition. Before he became prime minister in 2018, Imran Khan had announced on anchor Hamid Mir’s talk show “Capital Talk” that once he is in the government, it is going to be him against the security agencies in case a single person goes missing during his government. Yet it was during his Prime Ministership that Hafeez Baloch, a student enrolled in Quaid-e-Azam University, was abducted in front of his father in his hometown Khuzdar by “three masked armed men” who came in a “black surf car” in February 2022. Hafeez was missing for months before he was put behind bars under trumped up terrorism charges before being finally acquitted in June 2022. When families of Baloch missing persons staged a protest in Islamabad in 2021, Pakistan Muslim League – N (PML-N) Vice President Maryam Nawaz Sharif visited them to stand in solidarity with them but this solidarity could last until her party came in power.
“Our people are in dungeons for years and decades. Each political party keeps playing politics on our pain. Imran Khan and Shireen Mazari gave us false hope during their government, Maryam Nawaz, when in opposition, supported us and now they are silent after coming into power,” said Seema Baloch during the protest.
Addressing the state institutions, Seema said, “If you do not trust the civilian courts, then present our loved ones in your military courts but present them at least, at least tell us if they are alive or dead. What kind of crime have our loved ones committed that you couldn’t have proved against them in 14 years?”
Sindh’s missing persons
The issue of enforced disappearances is not limited to Balochistan, but extends to Sindh. A group of Sindhi activists were staging their protest outside the Press Club on Eid.
The 62-year old mother of Rashid Hussain Baloch, who was arrested by security forces in the United Arab Emirates without any warrant and who was later deported to Pakistan and his whereabouts are unknown since, has taken every legal route to plead for his son and to know what became of him.
Saeeda Hameed’s father, Abdul Hameed Zehri, was whisked away from his home in Karachi on 10th April 2021. Since then Saeeda has been frequenting courts, commissions and taking to the streets to seek the release of her father. Families of missing persons say that they not only have to bear the pain of not knowing the whereabouts of their loved ones but also face harassment on various levels. “When I went in front of the Joint Investigation Team, they told me not to put up a drama, they said your father has gone on his own. They also said, “your father is a diabetes patient, you should get his death certificate made””, said Saeeda while breaking into tears.
“I don’t remember ever crying when my father was still with me”, she said with tears springing down her cheeks as she clutched her father’s picture.
Saeeda’s brother, Hammal, who was seated in the audience broke into a silent sob. According to her, Hammal kept waiting till 5 in the morning in the hope that their baba would return this Eid and said he didn’t want to spend another Eid on the road.
The author is a freelance feature writer.
