August 8, 2024
By Xari Jalil
LAHORE
On August 2, Pakistan’s Minister of Law and Justice, Azam Nazir Tarar, while addressing a press conference in Islamabad, announced that the federal cabinet had approved a grant of Rs5 million for the families of each missing person. Tarar said that the decsion was made by the Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in light of recommendations made by previous committees on the issue of missing persons. He said the cabinet reviewed the final report of the committees and also approved the constitution of a special committee to examine genuine cases of families in need of support.
However those families who had already been reunited with their previously missing loved ones would not be eligible for the renumeration.
FOREVER IN PROTEST
While the plague of enforced disappearances affects people across Pakistan, in Balochistan specifically thousands have disappeared over the course of decades. According to Latif Baloch, head of Baloch Voice for Justice, disappearances began in the province in the 1970s, by the Pakistan military and intelligence agencies.
“In the ’70s, hundreds of people including Asadullah Mengal, Ahmed Shah Baloch, Dilip Das and others went missing and although the trend stopped for some time, it began again in 1999 when General Pervez Musharraf imposed martial law,” says Latif. “We have seen thousands disappear from then till date, and this is still continuing.”
Even though key players in Pakistan’s political game including Pakistan People’s Party, Muslim League and PTI all spoke about enforced disappearances are various times, once in government they did not pursue the matter. “When they are in opposition, they declare enforced disappearances unconstitutional, but when they are in power, they seem to support the army,” says Latif Baloch. “During the regime of PTI, the Constitution Bill conveniently ‘disappeared’ instead of being presented in the Senate and the National Assembly.”
Later PTI itself faced the worst when its own workers went missing, he added.
AN INSULT
Now the families of the missing persons are angry, resentful and disappointed by what the government has announced.
“The government’s offer of Rs 5 million to the families of the victims of enforced disappearance is nothing but insulting,” says Farida Baloch, the sister of Rashid Hussain Baloch, who was forcibly disappeared from a Gulf country in 2018 and secretly deported to Pakistan through intelligence agencies. “Saying this to us is like rubbing salt in our wounds. This token amount cannot compensate the families for years and years of suffering and grief. Instead of offering people money, the State should work on trying to end this human rights violation and bring all the missing persons in front of us, otherwise the government will only create more resentment among the people.”
Bandi Baloch has been campaigning for the release of her uncle Mumtaz Baloch who was forcibly disappeared for the third time in 2022. She says that they only want the return of their loved ones, not money.
“I want to ask Shehbaz Sharif and Azam Nazir Tarar that if their sons are missing, will they want their sons back or will they take money?”
Bakhtawar Baloch, sister of Dr Abdul Hai Baloch, has been active in the attempt for his recovery, says that the government is clearly trying to give ‘blood money’ for the missing persons. “We don’t want their money and wealth, we only want our loved ones back safe and alive,” he says. Dr Abdul Hai Baloch was forcibly disappeared from Awaran in June of 2024.
In 2021, Zahoor Ahmed and Sajjad Baloch were forcibly disappeared from Quetta. Their sister Saeeda Baloch says the offer could only mean one thing. “That they have killed our people and now they want silence from us, so they thing they can buy us,” she said.
Fatima Bibi, the mother of Kabir Baloch, who was forcibly disappeared from Khuzdar in 2009, has criticized the government’s announcement.
“My son Kabir Baloch and his companions Mushtaq Baloch and Attaullah Baloch were forcibly disappeared on March 27, 2009 and have been missing since,” she said. “But can Rs5million be the compensation for our 16 years of suffering and waiting? The state wants to take advantage of our constraints. Even the sacrificial animals being sold at Eid time were not sold at Rs5million, but they have tried to fix a price on our children. Those who buy entire governments with money must know that it is impossible to buy someone’s conscience with money.”
Rukhsana Dost, the sister of Azeem Dost Baloch, who was forcibly disappeared from Gwadar in 2015, expressed regret over the government’s decision. “The government wants to buy and sell the lives of forcibly disappeared people and they have approached us for that,” she says. “We are certainly poor but not unscrupulous that we would be expected to sell our brothers who languish half alive in internment centres and torture cells. Shame on them!”
Saira Baloch, sister of Rashid Baloch, a resident of Khuzdar, who was forcibly disappeared from Nushki in 2018, has the same sentiment.
“Even if the state opens its treasury for us, we will not give up our demand for the recovery of our brothers,” she said. “Keep your five million, and give us back our missing persons.”
The niece of Safar Ali, a resident of Awaran who was forcibly disappeared from Hub Chowki in 2013, says that now the state had resorted to making fun of their helplessness, reducing the issue to ‘packages’ and ‘compensatons’. “Didnt the government refuse to accept that there were missing persons? Then why are they giving out monetary packages? My aunt, the wife of missing Safar Ali, died because she was unable to bear his disappearance. Can the state return my aunt?”
Meanwhile Sadia Baloch, the sister of Salman Baloch, a resident of Khuzdar, who went missing from Quetta in November 2022, is disgusted that the government wants to make deals with bereaved families, already suffering a loss. “Either that or they are humiliating us,” she says. “As a missing person’s sister I want to revert this offer and pay the government somehow in return for my brother. Will that be acceptable then?”
Farzana Rodini, the sister-in-law of Saifullah Rodini, a resident of Sorab, who went missing in 2013, also spoke to Voicepk.
“I have been protesting for the recovery of my brother Saifullah, who has been missing for the past 11 years. Can the pain and suffering of these 11 years be replaced with money?”
Hifza Baloch, sister of Mushke resident Changaiz Baloch, who went missing in January 2014, says that Sarfraz Bugti and Anwarul Haq Kakar used to claim that only 50 people were missing but today the Federal Law Minister was saying that over 2000 people were missing. “Why doesnt the State and government drop its false narrative and tell us the truth about the situation of enforced disappearances,” she demanded. “We want our loved ones back alive, but we also want to know if they are alive. My mother doesnt want your money she wants her son. For her he is more precious than all the wealth in the world.”