A Baloch Hal Editorial | Nov 25, 2010 | Original article
DailyTimes coverage | Nov 24, 2010 Original article
The Nation coverage | Nov 24, 2010 DNA coverage ordered

A Baloch Hal editorial

Just one day before the completion of one year since Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani presented in a joint session of the parliament the much-hyped Aghaz-e-haqooq-e-Balochistan Package, authorities in Pishin District found five more dead bodies supposedly of the missing Baloch persons. Levies officials said these bodies had been found by a shepherd in an isolated place between Yaro and Bostan.

The dead bodies were brought to Quetta's Bolan Medical Complex (BMC) where a large number of missing persons' relatives rushed as they clung with the hope that they would endeavor to identity their beloved ones. However, it was impossible to recognize any of the five dead because their bodies had been badly mutilated. Doctors said all them had been murdered almost one month ago. Eyewitnesses said some of these bodies had been eaten by astray dogs and other wild animals as they had been thrown in open space.

Together with the nine other dead bodies of the missing Baloch persons which were discovered from different parts of Balochistan as the "eid gifts for the Balochs", (in the interpretation of the reclusive perpetrators), the total number of the dead bodies recovered in a single week reaches fourteen. Voice for the Missing Baloch Persons, an organization comprising of the relatives of the missing persons which is relentlessly engaged in raising voice for the recovery of the missing persons, has said at least fifty dead bodies have been recovered so far in the last two months.

A vast majority of the dead are Balochs who were in their twenties and belonged to lower-middle class families. Some of them were political workers while the others were poor students and professionals. In all cases, the families of these missing persons, who were later killed, directly blame the government agencies responsible for what they call the "abduction" and murder of their beloved ones.

What Islamabad has to fear is the fact that every dead body was buried with a flag of independent Balochistan. For the government, these were mere nameless people whose names were neither registered in an F.I.R notebook nor did any court seriously pursue a petition intended to ensure the recovery of these citizens. However, every dead body has been received heroically in different parts of Balochistan.

For example, the residents of Gwadar felt "˜deprived' of a "national martyr" of their own area until recently. They used to celebrate Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti and Balach Marri. Not that they gave up respecting these two "national heroes", their sense of deprivation further deepened after the neighboring districts of Kech (Turbat) and Panjgur got their respective "national heroes" after Ghulam Mohammad Baloch (Central President of Baoch National Movement) and Lala Munir Baloch (Senior BNM leader) were respectively killed allegedly by the Frontier Corps (FC) along with another Baloch leader, Sher Mohammad Baloch.

Now, there is a sense of collective jubilation, of course in the midst of extraordinary pain, after the killing of twenty-five year old journalist Hameed Baloch. The people of Gwadar have collectively named him as "Sar Shaeed" which in Balochi literally means the First Martyer. In a nutshell, every small town in Balochistan has received a new martyer, a hero and a visionary whose mission the children of that area vow to pursue in the future.

Those who saw the gruesome images of the killed citizens and then noted complete silence from the government must realize that the government is playing a very foil game in Balochistan. It is cultivating hatred and unprecedented resentment in every town of the province. Every time a dead body is found, a door of peace in Balochistan shuts down.

The situation in Balochistan has gone beyond a mere political issue of identity and control over human resources. This is indeed the unfolding of a great human tragedyn. Children of our generation have never seen gruesome images similar to that of the the freshly found five dead bodies. The international media and human rights groups must quickly take notice of the worsening condition in Balochistan. The unfolding tragedy should be dealt before it is too late. If the Baloch nationalists' claims that five thousand people have gone missing, are valid then does it mean that a similar number of dead bodies should be awaited in the future?