Constitution-Less State: The Intrepid Women’s Venture of Time; An Uprising, Mass Movement of Hope – Rizwan Baloch

Written By Rizwan Baloch

Balochistan is long been in the plague of despots and wrecked particularly for more than two consecutive decades.

Through the collective punishment policy, the state has breached International laws hitherto not set accountable by human rights defenders or the International community.

Contemplating it as impunity, law enforcement agencies including CTD have assassinated many students, teachers, activists, and others from different walks of life in fake encounters. Also, they are constantly whisking away people from different segments of Balochistan despite the incepted Movement from Turbat against the ongoing Baloch genocide.

The current uprising against Baloch’s extermination commenced as the aftermath of Balach Baloch’s extrajudicial slaying by the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD). According to Nako Mayar, father of the victim Fatah, he is a mountain dweller and a cattle herder; the Pakistani Army banished him from his land and compelled him to reside in a (Batik) guest room. His only son Fatah was forcibly abducted by CTD and then murdered in a fake encounter.

Similarly, Balach Baloch son of Maula Bukhsh was forcibly abducted by CTD and produced before the judiciary and later on, annihilated in a fake encounter.

Albeit the court has adjourned the case by approving a committal in detention or a 10-day remand, who is going to make them comply with the constitution or rule of law? Or who is going to set them accountable for their defiance of the court’s order?

His family never perceived that their son was in the hands of sadists who attain complacency by inflicting pain on innocents. It is explicit, that they have undying contempt for Baloch or anyone who bluntly washes their dirty linens in public.

Gist of the Movement

Although the extrajudicial killing of Baloch by law enforcement agencies is not unique, the constant neglect of the extermination of a nation led to this uprising. The continuous trampling, torture, degeneration, degradation, exploitation, and marginalization are many of the determinants of this congruence.

When CTD gifted Baloch’s corpse to the family, they only had two options either to remain silent or revolt against this despotism and injustice. Fortunately, the intrepid family of Balach chose resistance which turned into an erupted wild blaze.

They commenced their demonstration in Turbat with Balach’s corpse and from there this mass movement emerged under the supervision of Sammi Deen Baloch, Gulzar Baloch, and others leading this toward Quetta despite the obstructions of the state at many places.

Considering it a ray of hope, families of missing persons became part of the movement and others stood in solidarity with the long march. When it reached Quetta, Mahrang Baloch, Gulzar Baloch and others led this trend-setting movement.

However, Mahrang Baloch had received her father’s mutilated corpse and Sammi Baloch has been protesting for more than a decade, heretofore, both of them haven’t received justice yet.

Moreover, rather than listening to their legitimate demands, the police lodged bogus first Information reports (FIR) on the marchers alleging that the marchers had breached the law and also had baton-charged them on various occasions.

While officeholders like Jan Achakzai, Anwar ul Kakar, and Sarfraz Bugti, justify the ongoing extrajudicial slaying and enforced disappearances of Baloch with the killing of laborers from Punjab by the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA).

Yet, they forget to ruminate that the immature statements, constant overlooking, delay in justice, incompetency of Judiciary, and negligence of occurrences like Tootak, Nishtar hospital, and Kech led to this mass revolt where around 3 victims forcibly disappeared were tied and embarked in a car by CTD later on bombed them in Kech. In Tootak, hundreds of enforced disappeared victims were assassinated by Shafiq Mengal and buried in the burial ground.

Similarly, around five hundred (500) corpses of missing persons were recovered from the awning of Nishtar Hospital, but later it was twisted that there were less than fifty corpses. And until now none of the above-mentioned cases were investigated nor the offenders were held accountable.

Thus, If the killing of innocent Baloch is justified by the murder of so-called laborers from Punjab by BLA, then the slaying of workers is justified by aforementioned state terrorism which compelled them for this exercise.

As phase two of the March started up, Mahrang Baloch led it toward the capital city of Pakistan, along the way they were welcomed marvelously at many places like Dera Ghazi Khan, Dera Ismail Khan, Taunsa Sharif, etc. On the contrary, the state strives to sabotage the movement and harass them with fake FIRs and lashing them out.

When the state fell flat in all its attempts, Islamabad police welcomed the representatives of the Baloch people with tear gas, water cannons, and illegal detention by blocking their way.

After the explicit message of Islamabad to Balochistan, we comprehend in this constitution-less country, we are already deprived of all basic human needs and human rights. This was expected from Islamabad.

Therefore, from now on, the so-called nationalist leaders should relinquish the notion that parliamentary politics is the way through which the land of Baloch, their identity, resources, dignity, and lives of people could be preserved when they fail to protect their children and women from state’s brutishness.