Protests staged against enforced disappearances in Balochistan

On the auspicious occasion of Eid, thousands of people protested in Balochistan's Quetta city demanding the return of their beloved, who were allegedly abducted by Pakistani intelligence agencies.

Protestors urged the United Nations and Human Rights Organisation to take action against the abduction of information secretary of Baloch Human Rights Organisation (BHRO), Muhammad Nawaz Atta and eight other students.

Reportedly, Atta and eight other students were taken into custody in October last year. Since then, there has been no news regarding their whereabouts or wellbeing.

Meanwhile, a prominent Baloch activist, Mama Qadeer, who runs a campaign against missing persons in Balochistan, celebrated Eid by cleaning the photos of the missing people and those who were killed.

Earlier in January, Qadeer had accused Pakistan of running a terror factory.

"Pakistan runs factories to produce terrorists. It provides them training to use against others, including the Baloch. Pakistan forcefully occupied Balochistan on March 27, 1948. Since then, the Pakistan Army and secret agencies are committing atrocities. They abduct, kill and throw mutilated bodies of Baloch on roads so they cannot speak for the freedom of Balochistan," claimed Qadeer.

He had also blamed the Pakistan Army and secret agencies for the deteriorating human rights situation in Balochistan.

"We have been raising our voices against missing persons in Balochistan. Pakistan's agencies (ISI, MI, and FC) are behind the enforced disappearances and the killings of Baloch. They also back radicals to whom they pay money to kidnap and kill the Baloch," he added.

Accusing Pakistan of being 'real producers of terrorists', Qadeer requested the government to bring the disappeared Baloch to court and prove their guilt.

"At present, 45,000 Baloch people are missing and we stand in their witness. In 2004, when Balochistan home minister Aftab Sherpao came to Gwadar, he declared to have kidnapped 4,000 Baloch people. This statement was on the record. In 2014-15, home secretary Akbar Durani made a statement that they have arrested 13,000 people. Interior Minister Sarfraz Bugti also confessed to having abducted some 9,000 people," he said.

Furthermore, Qadeer opined that if proved guilty, the authorities could hang them, and if not, release them immediately.

"I had received immense life threats and it still continues. As soon as I reach Balochistan, I may be abducted or killed. But, we will continue to fight for our rights, no matter we lose our life" said Mama Qadeer whose 35-year-old son Jalil Ahmad Rekhi was brutally killed by secret agencies in 2009," he said.