Baluch Protesters March Across Pakistan ,

Farzana Majeed of Voice of Baloch Missing Persons: “Give answers to these questions! It is for the answers to these questions that we have come out.”

Recently, activists from Balochistan, Pakistan, which is in the south of the country and shares a border with Iran and Afghanistan, set out on foot for a 2,000km march from Quetta to Islamabad. This Long March, noted in the Pakistani press as the country’s first-ever protest march, was organized by Voice of Baloch Missing Persons in an effort to raise national and international awareness of the plight of Baloch people in Pakistan, to seek answers from the government regarding the state’s ongoing repression of Baloch people, and to obtain justice for the Baloch disappeared and killed, which number in the thousands.

The core group of marchers, numbering about 2 dozen – including 12 women, 7 men, and 3 children – were greeted along their journey by supporters in numerous towns along the way. But they also faced indifference and hostility, and when they reached Islamabad and presented themselves at the National Press Club, they faced journalists who sought not to adhere to the standards of their profession, but rather to provoke, ridicule, and malign both those who had marched so far for a just cause, and Baloch people in general.

Angered by their attitude, one of the marchers, Banuk Farzana Majeed (1), provided the journalists in Islamabad with a powerfully articulated response to their derision. Her response is captured on video, and translated to English, below. Mission Free Iran supports the just demands of Farzana Majeed and the Voice of Baloch Missing Persons for the immediate and unconditional release of all political prisoners.

“My name is Farzana Majeed Baloch, and I am the sister of Baloch student leader Zakir Majeed Baloch, who was abducted on 8th June 2009 by Pakistani secret services agencies from Karimabad in Mastung. To date there is no news about him. I am that sister who, when her brother was abducted on 8th June 2009, started to protest from 9th June 2009. During this protest she [referring to herself] did hunger strikes, press conferences, went to Karachi Press Club, Quetta Press Club. I have come to Islamabad three times and sat here for hunger strike. And your Supreme Court, the Supreme Court of Pakistan – supposedly the institution of Justice – here to it I have come for hearings in Islamabad three times. I have gone to it many times in Quetta as well, but I got Justice from nowhere. Why don’t you ask these questions (2) of them?

The five years of pain we have spent aren’t ordinary years. All that you do is write “five” and “years.” But it isn’t as simple as that; these five years, these painful five years, we have spent on roads and streets [seeking justice]. Aren’t we the mothers and sisters of someone? Don’t we have needs? Don’t we have feelings? Don’t our mothers wait for their beloved children?

The forces that you speak of and claim are our defenders and protectors (3) in Balochistan – are they in fact our protectors? Or are they our murderers? This is also a question that you have to answer. The protector is the one who protects people. Not the one who forcibly takes people away in vehicles and later throws their mutilated bodies [on the roadsides] (4). Aren’t these questions that demand answers? Give answers to these questions. It is for the answers to these questions that we have come out. Seeking answers to these painful questions, we have walked 3000 kilometers.

We aren’t psychotic; we aren’t insane girls who wander needlessly on the roads. We have brought our pain and sorrow from our homes; our mothers are anxiously waiting for their children who you have disappeared years before, and they have become psychologically disturbed. Why don’t you answer these questions?

Girls as young as these [pointing to female journalists] and even younger have been widowed there. Young women have received the mutilated bodies of their brothers. Old women have carried the mutilated bodies of their beloved sons. Mama Qadeer (5) himself carried the mutilated body of his son; this young boy [referring to Mama Qadeer’s grandson, Beauragh] has seen his father’s mutilated body. Give answers to these questions. Why do you keep harping on questions about the Balochistan Liberation Army, maps, Haiyr Biyar, Brahamdagh, Khair Bakhsh (6), why do you keep asking us these questions? Moreover they (our leaders) will certainly support us – why shouldn’t they support us? We are their children. If you kill us, will they not ask you? How could they not raise the matter in Geneva while you keep on killing us young Baloch?

What sort of ridiculous questions do you ask us? We aren’t deranged and we aren’t making a drama. It is you who are carrying out a charade and trying to befool and trick Baloch mothers and sisters. Now do you comprehend and understand what it is all about? We need answers to these questions. Don’t you people have mothers and sisters? Did any one of you see me on the roads five years back? Did you then know who Farzana Majeed was? Did you know him [pointing to Ali Haider (7)]? Did Mama Qadeer appeal to NATO five years back? You sit here and try to ridicule us and malign us – is this the way of civilized?

Now you answer my questions. Go to your government and your Nawaz Sharif (8) and tell them that Farzana Majeed demands to know why she has not gotten justice in five years. Ask Asif Ali Zardari (9), why didn’t I get justice in these five years? I need answers to these questions and it is for this for reason I am going to the United Nations. I am going to the UN because no institution here is listening to our grievances, so you (the UN) can ask them why our grievances aren’t being heard.

Don’t I know how to speak and write? Don’t I know how to conduct myself? So why I am not heard here? These are my questions and it is the answer to these questions that I demand of the Pakistani state. And regarding my brother [Zakir Majeed] who, if he has committed a crime, then the allegations that the government has against him should be presented in Supreme Court or the High Court. Punish him if he is proved guilty, and if then Farzana Majeed says something, then you have the right to protest.

Now do you understand? It is these things that we want to ask of the Pakistani state. You all refuse to see these demands of ours. The only thing you see is, why we are we staging hunger strikes, why are we going to the UN, why we don’t support the federation and why we don’t go to the Parliament which has never done anything for us?”

Translation by Mir Mohammad Ali Talpur
Minor edits and footnotes added by Maria Rohaly

FOOTNOTES:

(1) Farzana Majeed Baloch serves as Secretary General of the organization Voice of Baloch Missing Persons. Her brother, Baloch student leader Zakir Majeed Baloch, was abducted on 8th June 2009 by Pakistani secret services agencies from Karimabad in Mastung.

(2) Referring to the insulting and derogatory questions from the Pakistani journalists.

(3) Referring to the journalists’ assertion that the Pakistani army is the protector of people in Balochistan.

(4) Referring to the common practice of “kill and dump,” whereby Baloch people are abducted from the street and later found dead, usually mutilated and shot, by the roadside.

(5) Mama Qadeer (Abdul Qadeer Baloch), age 72, is the vice-chairman of the organization Voice of Baloch Missing Persons. He organized and led the historic Long March from Quetta to Islamabad. The mutilated body of his son, Jalil Reki, was recovered from Mand, District Kech region, after he was abducted, tortured and executed in custody by Pakistani state security forces.

(6) Haiyr Biyar, Brahamdagh, and Khair Bakhsh are the names of Baloch people leading various organizations.

(7) Ali Haider Baloch, age 11, joined the long march with his elder sister Saba. His father Ramzan Baloch was abducted in front of Ali’s eyes.

(8) Nawaz Sharif is the current Prime Minister of Pakistan.

(9) Asif Ali Zardari is a Pakistani politician and current co-chairman of Pakistan Peoples’ Party.

http://missionfreeiran.org/2014/03/05/farzana-majeed-and-the-voice-of-baloch-missing-person/

Baloch marchers submit demands to UN.

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Published 2014-03-04 07:36:39

ISLAMABAD: The representatives of Baloch missing persons, Mama Qadeer Baloch and Farzana Majeed, on Monday presented their demands to the United Nations.

European Union has also invited them to a meeting on Wednesday morning. Moreover Mama Qadeer got phone calls from embassies of as many as seven countries including US, Russia, China and India.

The relatives of missing persons of Balochistan started their march from Quetta Press Club on October 27 2013, and reached Islamabad on March 1.

Mama Qadeer while talking to Dawn said that he and Farzana Majeed submitted four pages charter of demand (addressing UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon) narrating the attitude of the former and present governments of Pervez Musharraf and Nawaz Sharif, he said.

“The UN officials were astonished to know that as many as 19,200 Baloch are missing. We also gave them list of the missing persons and told them about the dead bodies recovered from different areas of the province,” he said.

Mama Qadeer said that he spent one and half hour there and then interpreter told them that demands will be sent to the head office of UN and soon good news will be given to them.

They also made photographs while we were sitting there, he added.

“Soon after leaving the UN office we received a call from European Union and officials want a meeting with us on Wednesday at 10am,” he said.

“Moreover we received calls from embassies of US, India, China, Russia, UK, Sweden and Norway. Officials of the embassies demanded charter of demand from us which has been submitted in UN and they also want to have meeting with us,” he said.

While replying to a question, Mama Qadeer said that he will stay for another few days in Islamabad and after having meeting with officials of EU and officials of embassies, he may return to Balochistan.

http://www.dawn.com/news/1090884

What would you do if your brother was abducted?

Farzana Majeed is iconic – a young woman in a blue shawl and red cap, standing with a portrait of her missing brother after walking 2,000 kilometres to find him. Farzana holds a double Masters and is the general secretary of the Voice for Baloch Missing Person’s March, members of which walked across Pakistan to give a human face to the issue of state abductions in Balochistan.

In the words of Imam Baksh Nasikh,

“Teri ankhein tuo sukhan go hain magar kaun sune,

Kyun kar awaaz karein mardam-e-beemar buland?”

(“Your eyes tell us everything, but who will listen,
Why would a weak nation raise its voice?”)

This image of Farzana Majeed is iconic – a young woman in a blue shawl and red cap, standing with a portrait of her missing brother after walking 2,000 kilometres to find him. Farzana holds a double Masters and is the general secretary of the Voice for Baloch Missing Person’s March, members of which walked across Pakistan to give a human face to the issue of state abductions in Balochistan.

The march began in October and has continued through the coldest time of the year, amidst rains and fog. There were threats, bullets and dangerous roads. And Farzana’s eyes tell the story of her struggle, sleeping in alien lands and waking up to an ambiguous present and future, month after month.

In our folklore, we have women like the Rani of Jhansi who led a rebellion against the British and thus, became a symbol of courage like Joan of Arc. Chaand Bibi defied the great and at times autocratic, Mughal emperor Akbar. And then there is Rosa Parks, the black woman who led the civil rights movement in the United States after being removed from a bus because of her race.

I don’t see how Farzana is any different.

She comes from a culture where women are protected and seldom go out alone. Yet, she marched on the Grand Trunk (GT) road with an old man, children and other women her age.

I wouldn’t be surprised if she was exasperated, disillusioned, angry or even depressed. Who would like it if their brother was abducted and potentially killed by the state? But then, who would actually get out of the house and demand his release? The sheer apathy in our culture for such a woman who is simply trying to seek justice, is striking. Despite all the mythological importance given to ‘respect of women’ and their honour, there is actually little concession given when a woman asks for something ‘they’ are unwilling to give her.

Apparently people are willing to accept outstanding deeds only when they are written in a history book. And this march is a testimony to this fact.

Punjab has tales of heroines like Heer, Sassi and Sohni – passionate women, who defied all odds for their love with immense courage but paid the price. Ironically, Punjab was the place where these young superwomen got the most lukewarm response and were greeted with firing, abuse and threats. Nobody can possibly understand the human cost of a conflict, the toll it takes on one’s personal life and how it leaves one’s family hollow forever.

Farzana is in her twenties. What will happen if she and the other girls with her fail to find a trace of their brothers? Some of these girls are still teenagers. I don’t even want to imagine the grief they will be forced to live with and the disillusionment which will follow this failure.

When my brother was born, we were surprised because the ultrasound report had said that it might be a girl. I was sleeping and my father woke me up to break the exciting news. Born in a hospital nearby, my brother was a tiny creature with a big nose and an inflamed wound on his hand caused by an injection. My mother directed me to move him away from the fan to an empty bed. I don’t know what I would do if he was abducted by the state.

And I am surprised why people don’t ask themselves this question.

It seems unlikely that an outsider can have any real perspective and that makes writing a piece like this immensely puzzling. You know it is painful but not exactly how much. And there is a mix of feelings, for example last year, Farzana mentioned that she had her own life to live and here she is spending every day trying to prevent her brother from getting killed.

Pakistanis often mourn the human adversity that took place in the partition of India. The Indian state’s crackdown on Kashmir is well known on this side of the border. There is a Kashmir in the south of Pakistan and there is a 1971 just waiting to happen again.

The anxiety in Farzana’s eyes is evidence of it.

Farzana is standing in front of a shop with its shutter closed. I hope this isn’t symbolic of the Pakistani state.

I hope they will lift the shutter and humanity will walk out.
http://blogs.tribune.com.pk/story/21257/what-would-you-do-if-your-brother-was-abducted/

Baluch activists march on Pakistan capitalBaluch activists march on Pakistan capitalBaluch activists.

27اکتوبر2013 کوئٹہ سے شروع ہونے والا لانگ مارچ 106 دن کے کھٹن اور تکلیف دہ سفر کے بعد 2 مارچ 2014کو اپنی منزل پر پہنچا ۔

THE HIDDEN HEROS

27اکتوبر2013 کوئٹہ سے شروع ہونے والا لانگ مارچ 106 دن کے کھٹن اور تکلیف دہ سفر کے بعد 2 مارچ 2014کو اپنی منزل پر پہنچا ۔

عظیم ہیں وہ رستے جن سے یہ عظیم لوگ گزرے ہیں۔جن کا مقصد تمام لاپتہ بلوچوں کی بازیابی،بلوچستان کے مظلوم لوگوں کی آواز بن کر اُسے ہر اُس انسان تک پہنچانا جو بلوچستان میں ہونے والے ظلم و زیادتی کے بارے میں نہیں جنتا۔

ان کی یہ جدوجہد دنیا کہ ہر اُس مظلوم قوم اور انسان کے لیے بھی ہے جو کسی نہ کسی ظلم کا شکار ہیں۔

ان کی اس ہمت وبہادری نے انسانیت کو زندہ کردیا ۔اس مارچ نے لوگوں کو ظلم کے خلاف آواز اُٹھانے کا شعور دیا۔

ہمیں اپنے قوم کے ان

عظیم ہیروز پر فخر ہے۔ پوری بلوچ قوم ان کو سُرخ سلام پیش کرتی ہے۔

واس فور بلوچ مسنگ پرسنز کے لانگ مارچ کے ان ہیروز کے بارےمیں بہت سارے لوگوں نے لکھا اور اُن کے اس مقصد کو سراہا،اور ان کے بارے میں جتنا لکھا جائے کم ہے۔

لیکن میں اُن چُھپے ہیروز کے بارے میں بارے میں لکھ رہی ہوں ۔جن کے ساتھہ نے عظیم مارچرز کو ہمت اور حوصلہ دیا،اور جو اس کٹھن سفر میں انکے ساتھہ ساتھہ رہے۔ ان ہیروز کو بلوچ قوم کبھی فراموش نہیں کرسکتی۔

یہ ایک تاریخی لانگ مارچ تھا اس میں شامل ہر وہ انسان میری نظر میں ہیرو ہے اورتعرف کے مستحک ہے جو اس طویل سفر میںان کے ہمسفر بنے اور ان کے سات ظلم کے خلاف آواز بلند کی۔

ہمارے عظیم اُستاد میر محممد علی تالپور اس عظیم حستی کو کون نہیں جانتا۔ ان کے بارے میں جتنا بھی لکھا جائے کم ہے۔ ایک شفق انسان جن کا دل محبت سے بھراہوا اور جن کے پاس علم کا سمندر ہے۔عظیم اُستاد میر محممد علی تالپور کاشفیق سایہ ہمشہ ان دلیر مارچرز کے سر پر رہا۔جنوں نے ہر قدم ان کی رہنمائی کی۔

اُستاد میر محممد علی تالپورکے سات نےان کو ہمت دی۔

میں ہمارے ان عظیم اُستاد میر محممد علی تالپور کو پوری بلوچ قوم کی طرف سے سرخ سلام پیش کرتی ہوں اور دعا کرتی ہوں کہ ان کا مہربان سایہ ہمشہ ہمارے سر پہ سلامت رہے۔

بلوچ قوم ان کی عظیم خدمات کو کبھی فراموش نہیں کر سکتی۔ہمیں ان پر فخر ہے۔ 

اس لانگ مارچ میں شامل دو ایسے بہادر فرزند بھی تھے۔جن کے اُپر بہت بڑی ذمہ داری تھی۔ لاپتہ افراد کی خاموش تصویروں سےسجی رہڑی کو 3000کلومیٹر تک اپنے ہاتوں سے منزل کی طرف دھکیلتے رہنا۔

جب ایک بہادرفرزند رہڑی کو منزل کی طرف دھکیلتا دھکیلتا تھک جاتا تو دوسرا بہادرفرزند اپنی ذمہ داری سمبالتا اور اس وزنی رہڑی کومنزل کی طرف دھکیلنا شروع کر دیتا۔

ان بلوچ فرزندوں کی ہمت کو سرُخ سلام۔

اس لانگ مارچ میں ایک ایسا ہیروں بھی تھا،جس کی وجہ سے ہم اور پوری دنیا کو اس تاریخی لانگ مارچ کی پل پل کی خبر ملتی اور اس لانگ مارچ کے ہر اُُس عظیم پل کو اپنے کیمرا کی آنکھہ میں محفوظ کیا۔جو تاریخ میں ہمشہ اس لانگ مارچ کی گوائی دیتے رہیں گے۔

اُس نے اپنی ذمہ داری بڑی اچھی طرح سے نبایا۔

آج اگر دنیا اس عظیم تاریخی لانگ مارچ کے بارے میں جانتی ہے تو وہ صرف اور صرف اس فرزند کی کوششوں کی وجہ سے۔إس بہادر فرزند نے ہر مشکل کابڑی بہادری سے مقابلہ کیا، اس لانگ مارچ کے دوران دشمن کے ایک حملے میں زخمی بھی ہوا لیکن ہمت نہ ہاری اور جوذمہ داری قوم کے اس بہادر فرزند کے کندوں پر تھی اس کو نباتا چلا گیا۔ بلوچ قوم اپنے اس دلیر فرزند کوسُرخ سلام پیش کرتی ہے۔

ہم اُن سپوٹرز کو بھی فراموش نہیں کر سکتے جھنوں نے ہر قدم لانگ مارچ کے شرکہ کا سات دیا۔اُن کے سات یک جہتی کی۔یہ لانگ مارچ جہاں سے گزرتا اُن پر پھولوں کی پتیا نیچاور کرتے،ہماری بہنوں کو عزت کے طور پر چادر دیا جاتا۔

اس لانگ مارچ کو سپورٹ کرنے والوں نے بلوچوں کی تکلیف و درد کو اپنا درد سمجھا اور ہر قدم ان کا سات دیا۔جب بھی اس لانگ مارچ کا زکر ہو گا ،اُن سپوٹرز اوران کےدیے ہوئے محبت و عزت کو ہمشہ یاد رھکاجائے گا۔جنوں نے لانگ مارچ کے بہادروں کے سات مل کر ظلم کے خلاف آواز بلند کی اور قدم سے قدم ملا کر ان کے ہمسفر بنے۔

ہم ان سب کی انسانیت دوست سوچ کو اسلام کرتے ہیں۔

جب یہ لانگ مارچ پنجاب میں داخل ہوا تو اجنبیت تکلیف،ازیت،اور نفرت نے ان مارچرز کااستقبال کیا۔ منزل قریب تھی مگر رستہ کھٹن اور تکلیف دہ تھا۔ وہ بہادری سے منزل کی طرف بڑتے گیے۔ان حالات کے باوجود انسانیت دوست اور انسانیت سےمحبت کرنے والوں نے آگے بڑھ کر یہ ثابت کر دیا کہ انسانیت زندہ ہے۔اس دنیا میں دردِدل رکھنے والے اور انسانیت سے محبت کرنے ولوں کی کمی نہیں۔

یہ بہادر سپوٹرز سائے کی طرح اس تاریخی لانگ مارچ کے ہیروز کے سات رہے اور ہر قدم اُن کا سات دیا۔یہ جاننے کہ باوجود کے مارچرزکا سات دینے سے ان کے پورے خاندان کو کتنی مشکلات کا سامنا کرنا پڑے گا ۔اُن کو دھمکیاں بھی ملی اور مل رہی ہیں۔

ان سب باتوں کی پروا کیئے بغیر ان ہیروز کے سات ان کے مارچ میں شریک ہوئے۔ اُن کا خیال بھی رھکا۔اور منزل تک ان کے سات رہے ۔ بےشک پنجاب میں دردِ دل رکنے والو کٰی تعداد بہت کم تھی لیکن جتنی بھی تھی۔سب نے منزل تک ان کا سات دیا اور ان کی آوازکے سات آواز ملائی۔

بلوچ قوم ہمشہ ان لوگوں کی محبت اور سپورٹ کویاد رکھے گی۔

ان بہادر اور انسانیت دوست لوگوں کو ہم سلام پیش کرتے ہیں۔

اُن بہادر بلوچ students کی جُرت کو ہم کسے فراموش کر سکتے ہیں۔جو لاہور سے اسلام آباد تک اپنے بلوچ قوم کےان بہادروں کے سات سائے کی طرح رہے۔

ان بلوچ فرزندوں نے اس قول کو پورا کیا

چُکیں بلوچانی ما چُکیں ‌بلوچانی

ما کوپگیں ‌پِسّانی ، ما جامگیں ‌ماسانی ما پنجگیں ‌براتانی ، ما لجیں ‌گہارانی

چُکیں بلوچانی ما چُکیں ‌بلوچانی

آج ہمیں ان بلوچ فرزندوں پر فخر ہے ۔ ہم پوری بلوچ قوم بلوچستان کے ان بہادر بیٹوں کو سرخ سلام پیش کرتے ہیں۔

یہ وہ لوگ ہیں جنکو بلوچ اور تاریخ ہمشہ یا رھکے گی۔ان سب نے اس تاریخی لانگ مارچ کا سات دیے کر انسانیت سے محبت کا ثبوت دیا۔

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شیرین بلوچ

Baloch to raise the issue of missing persons, mass graves at UNHRC .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLA7heXuWjg