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Today's Paper | November 26, 2024

Published 02 Mar, 2014 07:19am

Pain behind the marchers

Ali Haider Baloch, 10, said that it was a very long and difficult journey, but he was determined to come to Islamabad for the recovery of his father.

“I was going to the market along with my father when two vehicles of agencies stopped us.

“Persons riding in both vehicles kidnapped my father, Mohammad Ramzan Baloch. I shouted but no one listened to me,” he recalled the incident that took place in July 2010.

My father was a member of Baloch National Movement, he added.

Beureak Baloch, 9, said that he participated in the long march along with his grandfather, on foot.

“On February 13, 2009, officials of agencies entered my house near Sariab Road in Quetta and kidnapped my father, Mir Jalil Baloch. In 2011, my father’s body was recovered,” he said.

“My grandfather and I have been struggling to ensure that such an incident was not repeated with anyone else,” he added.

Zarina Baloch, who has come from Quetta, said that her brother, Manzoor Qalander, was student of Iqra University in Karachi. Agencies kidnapped him from Gulshan-i-Maymar, Karachi.

“It was not easy to take the decision to come out of the house for the recovery of my brother but I had to do it because it is not possible to live without family members especially with the hope that he can be alive,” she said. Zarina has been struggling for the recovery of her brother since 2011.

Farzana Majeed Baloch said that she wants to stay in the house just like other Baloch women but she has decided to participate in the march for her brother, Zakir Majeed Baloch, who was kidnapped from Mastung in June 2009.

“I have visited Islamabad three times and also attended the hearings of the Supreme Court, but reached to a conclusion that courts cannot resolve the issue of missing persons because as many as 102 hearings have been held but disappearances are increasing,” she said.

Simi Baloch, the daughter of Dr Din Muhammad, said that her father was at home when officials of agencies entered the house and took him away.

“It was not easy to complete the 3,000-kilometre journey. My feet have been wounded but I was determined to reach Islamabad for the recovery of my father, because there is no life without him,” she said.

Dr Din Mohammad was kidnapped on June 28, 2009 from Khuzdar district.

Aani Baloch, the daughter of Dr Akbar Marri, said that she left her house because she believed that maybe the UN would play its role for the recovery of her father.

“We faced so many difficulties and suffered problems but in the end reached the federal capital. I am sure that now the government will also take the issue of missing persons seriously,” she said.

Dr Akbar Marri was an employee of Bolan Medical College and went missing in 2010 from Quetta.

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