Addressing a conference in Hannover, Germany, organised by the Baloch National Movement (BNM) on Baloch Martyrs’ Day, political analyst and author Ayesha Siddiqa said she no longer has confidence that the Pakistani state can protect its citizens or has the capacity to address their grievances.
Speaking at the gathering, she said she has attended BNM’s annual event for years out of solidarity with the Baloch, but this time she wanted to share her own sense of personal tragedy. She said forcibly taking away people’s sons and daughters from their mothers and fathers is an act for which there can be no justification.
Recalling her past, Siddiqa said that around 2012–2014 she joined a protest in Islamabad when Mama Qadir and the relatives of the disappeared marched on foot from Shaal. She said her purpose at the time was also to stand up for Pakistan, because if she did not stand with those who had marched all the way, she would have had no moral ground to ask the Baloch to remain part of the country.
More than a decade later, she said that sense of belonging has gone. “What am I protecting?” she asked. According to her, the violence and authoritarian nature of the state have expanded, and she no longer trusts it.
Criticising Pakistan’s state structure, Siddiqa described it as a colonial and rent-seeking state. She said Pakistan was a bureaucratic polity from the beginning rather than a genuine political state, and that the military’s role was not accidental. She said the current system has taken the form of “constitutional militarism.”
She strongly criticised political parties and parliament, saying they have effectively surrendered. According to her, parliament has willingly approved restrictions on the media and other measures demanded by the military. She said institutions including the judiciary and civil bureaucracy have been weakened, while an alliance of military and civilian elite interests now dominates the distribution of resources.
Linking enforced disappearances, fear and repression to resource extraction, Siddiqa said the state is ready to sell mineral resources from Balochistan, Pakhtunkhwa and other areas without effective public consultation or accountability. She said fear, silence and repression are used as tools to sustain this process and protect the interests of those who control the resources.
Referring to a recent conference in Islamabad attended by Field Marshal Asim Munir, she said mineral resources were being offered without taking parliament into confidence or consulting the people of the areas concerned.
Siddiqa compared the Baloch mothers struggling against enforced disappearances with Argentina’s Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo. She said mothers in both places were denied information about their disappeared loved ones, subjected to accusations, and their appeals ignored.
She also referred to a book documenting the struggle of the Argentine mothers and ended her speech by paying tribute to Baloch women who, despite state pressure and risks, continue their struggle for the recovery of their missing loved ones and for justice.