KARACHI: Balochistan Chief Minister Dr Abdul Malik Baloch conceded on Saturday his government’s failure in locating the ‘missing’ persons of his province.

Talking to reporters after a book launch here, he said that his government was in talks with the angry Baloch. However, he admitted that success had not been achieved in finding out where the ‘missing’ Baloch persons were.

He said that the people of Balochistan should not be kept in the dark on the issue of Gwadar.

The chief minister was the chief guest at the launch of the book on the life and work of distinguished Baloch poet, journalist and politician Mir Gul Khan Naseer titled Mir Gul Khan Naseer — Zindagi Aur Funn compiled by Yar Jan Badeeni and Tahir Hakeem Baloch.

He read out an excerpt from his article written in the Balochi language on Gul Khan Naseer. He then switched to Urdu and the first thing that he said about the late poet was “he was my ideal”.

Dr Baloch said it was people like Gul Khan who instilled an unending inspiration in political workers. He told the attendees, who had filled up the venue in no time, that he had met Gul Khan when the poet was imprisoned in Machh jail.

Referring to an earlier speaker’s assertions about how creative people were ill-treated in society, he said, “We haven’t spared anyone.”

Coming back to Gul Khan, the chief minister said the poet had a multi-dimensional personality, which needed to be studied. He stressed it was extremely difficult to critically analyse Baloch history, but somehow it needed to be done.

‘People of the province should not be kept in the dark about Gwadar’

PPP Senator Taj Haider said that by remembering the services of Gul Khan, “we actually are educating ourselves”.

He said the poet’s life was a combination of aesthetic pursuit and struggle for rights. Like every creative man he wanted the world to be a beautiful place to live in. What distinguished Gul Khan from other poets, he iterated, was the fact that not only did he compose poems but also practically took part in the struggle for his people’s rights.

Speaking on the book, he said the use of the Urdu language in it had impressed him a lot. This led him to point out that struggles should not be confined to certain boundaries, and therefore it was important to translate books in the national language so that people in other parts of the country could also keep themselves abreast of what their fellow strugglers were going through.

Mr Haider also touched upon the sensitive subject of the ‘missing’ persons and maintained that people could not remain frightened anymore.

Akhtar Baloch, the vice chancellor of the Benazir Bhutto Shaheed University, Lyari, who presided over the function, said Gul Khan was an institution unto himself. His personality had many facets — he was an aesthete, a revolutionary, a patriot and fond of other nations.

The poet’s main objective was to struggle against oppression. He said that Gul Khan was not just a Baloch, but was a human being who believed in the politics of the left.

The vice chancellor said the Baloch people wanted to attain their rights but with the power of education.

He lauded the present dispensation’s efforts in establishing universities in the province, such as the Turbat University, and wondered whether the Baloch politics would change and more universities would come up.

He informed the audience that when Gul Khan became a minister, the first conference he organised was on the importance of the Balochi script.

One of the compilers of the book, Yar Jan Badeeni, gave a presentation on Gul Khan. He said the poet was born in 1914 in Nushki, which was a fertile land that produced a great many writers, poets and journalists.

Gul Khan wrote and translated more than 20 books which were on revolutionary and anti-imperialist themes.

He quoted poet Habib Jalib who had once said if Gul Khan were born in Punjab he would have become Faiz Ahmed Faiz. The poet died of lung cancer in 1983.

Zulfiqar Halepoto, Prof Dr Seemi Naghmana, Senators Ashok Kumar and Talha Mahmood and Amanullah also spoke on the occasion.

Published in Dawn, May 10th, 2015

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