January 14, 2024
By Fatima Hurriya
ISLAMABAD
“It has been almost eight years since my brother, Shabbir Baloch went missing in 2016. Since then, me and my family have been wandering on roads, searching for justice, without even a moment’s peace. We have gone from one high forum to the next, but nothing has made any difference.”
Seema Baloch, is one of the many women who have been courageously marching on, trying to get her brother back. Aside many of the others, she has been with the Baloch Long March sitting in Islamabad’s harsh cold, in the camp outside the National Press Club (NPC). Her point? To highlight the pain that she and her family has been going through since Shabbir’s disappearance.
Seema is one of the hundreds of Baloch women who are part of this camp – all of whom have lost their husbands, brothers, and sons in enforced disappearances, abductions or killings, from various areas of Balochistan.
In November 2023, unprecedented videos surfaced on social media as these women, some accompanied by their children, took to the streets marching 1,600 kilometers – from the southern Kech district of Balochistan near the Iranian border – to Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan. They have clear demands: an end to enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings, and accountability of those involved in extrajudicial killings of Baloch youth.
Speaking on behalf of the others in the camp, most of whom speak Balochi and cannot converse in Urdu, Seema says that they have not come so far away from their homes to look at the capital city’s glitz and glamour; it’s large houses and high walls, and its high end shopping malls. Balochistan’s current scenario pales in comparison, where more than 60 percent of its people living below the poverty line, a serious lack of development of infrastructure, education, and many other basic needs. In fact Balochistan is the most vulnerable province in Pakistan, with a high prevalence of acute food insecurity and malnutrition and little or no access to health for women.
“We have children and elderly women here with us whose health conditions have been deteriorating fast because of the cold weather, and we have no facilities like heaters or even doctors to cater to them,” says Seema. “Even then, these women are not ready to even move from their positions because they have a little hope left in them that maybe someone somewhere will show them mercy and listen to them and perhaps tell them what happened to their loved ones.”
The women-led uprising in Balochistan has proven to be an effective strategy in confronting authoritarian power and exposing atrocities occurring in the province, although they have yet to gain global attention for standing up against human rights abuses in Balochistan.
The restive Balochistan region is no stranger to protests, sit-ins, and large-scale demonstrations, but what makes the current protest demonstrations unique is the large number of women of all ages, who are participating in and leading the demonstrations to Islamabad. For a region that is conservative with tribal areas, this kind of movement is unique.
Context
The current movement began following the killing of a 24-year-old youth in Turbat Tehsil, the headquarters of Kech district, a region marred by militancy. The victim, identified as Balaach, was reportedly whisked away from his home on October 29. After nearly three weeks, he was presented before an anti-terrorism court on November 22, which granted an additional 10 days of remand for further investigation.
Shockingly, between the night of November 22 and 23, he was shot dead. This incident sparked widespread anger, leading to a week-long protest in Turbat, where the family of the deceased and a massive crowd placed his body on the road at the Fida Hussain Chowk, and protested.
National mainstream media, under pressure, has imposed a complete blackout of the coverage of the march. Nevertheless, this movement – which has been non-violent from the very first day- has still attracted not just media attention in Pakistan but also worldwide.
Like Seema, another young girl Hifza also held a picture of her brother Changaiz Baloch who she says went missing in 2014. She says that her family heard from her brother a few times over the years but never saw him again.
For many children, their fathers have always been a shadow for them. Nine-year-old Seerat says that her father, Mehar Gul Marri went missing in 2015 from Quetta, adding that she never even got to know him as at the time he was disappeared, she was yet to be born. There are many other children who have a similar story to hers in the camp.
“If my father has committed a crime, he should be produced in a court and tried but I don’t understand why the law or courts even exist if this is what children like me have to go through,” says young Seerat.
Safety
Meanwhile, a counter-protest camp has also been set up near the protestors which has made them express their concern for safety in Islamabad. The Baloch protestors say the backgrounds of those spearheading the counter-protest are suspicious – even ‘criminal’. According to them, this is the latest move in a series of actions by the authorities against them to suppress their protest.
Before this the protesters had to face roadblocks, initiation of legal action against some of them, sedition FIRs, and restriction of supplies to their camp in the capital.
Despite this suppression, the Baloch protesters have maintained their peaceful stance, demanding a UN-led investigation into human rights abuses in Balochistan, an end to enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings,
Regardless of what unfolds next, these Baloch women have already made history with their heroic march towards the capital city and their determination against all odds.