LONDON: Baloch National Movement chairman Dr Naseem has said that the families of those who havd been forcibly disappeared were also affected, as was the family of Dr.Din Mohammad, whose daughters grew up in protest camps.
He was speaking on the sidelines of the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture and International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking on Sunday, June 26.
On June 26, protests and programs were organized in different parts of Balochistan and abroad by the BNM Germany Chapter, the Netherlands Chapter and the UK Chapter.
Dr. Naseem Baloch said: “this day is about the victims of violence who are victims of oppression and violence. Today, everyone in Balochistan is affected by violence.”
The BNM’s chairman maintained that in Balochistan Baloch were being forcibly disappeared and Baloch “are being tortured Pakistani forces” on daily basis. He stressed that it is their duty to remember those people who are languishing in the torture cells of Pakistan and raise their voice for those forcibly disappeared persons of Balochistan. “Our voice” in together with the voice of the the families of missing persons “will keep them alive. If we keep raising our voice for them, they will never be victim of forced disappearances.”
BNM Junior Joint Secretary Hassan Dost while talking to the program said that when we mention violence, we Baloch had been victims of oppression and atrocities of Pakistan since 1948. Pakistan had been using all available resources to counter the Baloch struggle and oppress the Baloch nation. Pakistan had set up death squads to escalate its violence, invading civilian populations and intimidating people. With their help, Pakistan is pushing Baloch society toward the evil of drugs addiction.
Addressing the program, Hakeem Baloch, editor of the quarterly Zrumbesh, said that Pakistan, along with its Death Squad, was spreading drugs in Baloch society. Pakistan were spreading drugs in Baloch society under the state policy so that it could weaken the Baloch movement by making Baloch youth addicted to drugs. “A common man in Balochistan cannot pass through the check posts of Pakistani forces but drugs pass through these check posts easily.” Hakeem Baloch questioned the role of Pakistani Army in illegal drugs trade in Balochistan and across the world.
Faheem Baloch, member of the BNM Central Committee, said that the purpose of repression was to get the state to control the people but when “a person is a victim of violence, his whole life is ruined.” He added: “People in Balochistan today are victims of violence in one form or another. Those who are protesting for their forcibly disappeared relatives are the victim of Pakistani atrocities or even the ordinary citizens are get abducted and put into the Pakistan’s torture cells.
Finally, BNM UK Chapter President Manzoor Baloch, while addressing the program, said that it is important for us to speak out against violence and not remain silent. Surely one day international organizations and other countries will respond to our voice. Families of enforced disappearances should raise their voices for their forcibly disappeared relatives and register their case of enforced disappearances with human rights organizations and they have to break their silence against the enforced disappearances of their loved ones.
