The Baloch National Movement (BNM) Diaspora took several crucial decisions at its recently concluded monthly meeting and reiterated the resolve to continue their struggle for Balochistan’s freedom from Pakistan. This BNM meeting was conducted under the chairmanship of Dr Naseem Baloch, Organizer of BNM Diaspora Committee and was addressed by Nabi Bakhsh Baloch, Hakeem Baloch, Asghar Ali, Nako Sattar and Gwahram Baloch while a large number of Baloch people attended this meeting.
Addressing the online meeting, Dr. Naseem Baloch paid tribute to the Baloch who attained martyrdom in February and said “…since the beginning of our national slavery in 1948, the month of February also has a long list of martyrs. From Shaheed Yasmeen, Shuhadae Totak, Shaheed Mehboob Wadila, Shaheed Master Rehman Arif. And this continues till date. Since then, Baloch are continuously being forcibly disappeared and killed.”
Dr. Naseem Baloch added that Baloch are constantly struggling for their national independence, even as Pakistan continues its barbarism and is engaged in genocide across Balochistan. “Pakistan has always betrayed the Baloch nation in the name of dialogue and deceit. Be it the conversation with Babu Nowruz or a recent conversation with the heads of organization of the victims of enforced disappearances. Some people maybe released in this process. But in reality, if two people are released, Pakistan would whisk away four people in order to maintain its barbarism and exert pressure on the Baloch.”
Dr Naseem Baloch reiterated that Balochistan’s relationship with Pakistan is one of occupier and occupied. “As I speak of reaction, whenever the state reacts, it proves that an action is taking place, and this reaction by Pakistan shows the weakness of the state. States don’t react with cruelty, but generally deal with such matters democratically, legally or constitutionally. But the Baloch struggle has panicked Pakistan. The Baloch National struggle has made significant strides both within Balochistan and in the diaspora. Therefore, in response to our movement, Pakistan is committing genocide against us in an undemocratic, illegal and barbaric manner.”
Dr. Naseem Baloch explained that it is our national responsibility to improve, organize and carry forward the struggle that our precedents have passed on to us, similarly, we can pass it on to our future generations. It is a regular part of political evolution and movement. Because people come and go, they are martyred, they may be imprisoned, they may die a natural death, but the struggle is a continuous process, if we succeed in passing it on to another generation in a better way, it will be easier for the next generation.
Nabi Bakhsh Baloch, a BNM North American activist, said that Baloch martyrs are immortal. “If today the name of Baloch is referred in any corner of the world that is the outcome of Baloch martyrs’ sacrifices.” Nabi Baksh Baloch added that inside Balochistan, Pakistan has blocked all avenues for our political struggle, therefore, at the diaspora level, we have more opportunities and responsibilities. “We need to put the Baloch national case before the international community. But when the people associated with the diaspora become fearful, it will be a victory for the state (Pakistan) and the state cronies. Wherever we are, in whatever forum we are in, we must prove that the Baloch National Movement is working in line with international principles or the UN Charter.”
Nabi Bakhsh Baloch added that there are serious human rights issues in Balochistan. It will continue to be so, but our struggle for national liberation and the issue of national liberation is more serious than the issue of human rights. “As Dr. Allah Nazar Baloch had said that every Baloch activist is an ambassador of the Baloch nation, we should consider what are our duties as an ambassador. Therefore, as a cadre, we should knock on the door of MPs, local government officials or parties and organizations in our respective areas. Here we must remember that in this process we should not expect quick results but constant and regular communication definitely gets a response.”
“If we look at the 20-years political journey, we can see the story in every individual of Balochistan. A long and never ending story. Martyrs in this journey, the greatness of the struggle, the long struggle and tears of our sisters, today we can be proud that the struggle for Baloch independence has reached all corners of the world. It is due to the sufferings, sacrifices, tears and sacrifices of the Baloch nation. He said that today the whole world is aware of the fact that the Baloch nation is committed to national liberation and our struggle is moving forward with full participation of our people,” said Nako Sattar in his address.
Nako Sattar added remembered the contributions of Rehman Arif and Mehboob Wadhela, who were very strong commentators and brave comrades and were committed to work for national cause. “Apart from as worker of the national struggle, Shaheed Rehman Arif was also a teacher, poet, speaker and writer. Today they are not among us but they have drawn the line with their blood and their sacrifices are leading lights for Baloch revolutionaries.”
Nako Sattar Baloch commended the role of Radio Zrumbesh and said that today Baloch media is fulfilling its responsibilities; especially Radio Zrumbash is working hard to bridge the gap. Their work is definitely commendable. He said that there should be space in politics. There should be an opportunity not only for party members but also for all levels of the movement. In my opinion, we should consciously give people a chance because in this age, the ability to hear is felt less. We need to close this gap.
“Our struggles and activities are not based on events. They should take place with an uninterrupted continuity as we can usually see that the activities on the events are intensifying.
Asghar Ali , General Secretary of the BNM Germany zone, said that forcing people to go missing is a psychological ploy adopted by any oppressive state. “At one point (Pakistani) state kills people and throws away bodies, buries them in mass graves but a large number languish in the dark detention centres. It is basically a psychological attack against one’s enemy. Same is happening today with the Baloch nation. Pakistan treats us as occupied people and surely our relationship with Pakistan is of an occupier and occupied. That is why we are waging a national struggle against Pakistan.”
Asghar Ali explained that behind this psychological attack or tactic is the factor or thinking that you gradually forget your people and this process reaches to a point where even the families of the victims of enforced disappearance forget their loved ones and are forced to think that their loved one is no more or that he has died in the enemy’s prison. In political science terms, it is called “frozen death.”
“Frozen death means that no matter whether your man is alive or dead, but slowly you start to forget your loved one, and then reach at a point where you stop thinking about him/her and ultimately in your psyche, you consider him/her dead. There have been similar experiments in Latin America. Even the governments there have taken care of the young children of the disappeared persons under the auspices of the state and as far as I remember, Pakistan has also made such an effort to educate the children of the Baloch missing persons. With this technique, the aim of the state is to eradicate the national ideology of oppressed people from the minds of children and penetrate colonial ideas. All Pakistan Army run schools in Balochistan are used for similar purposes to educate these children and in this way children can easily give up the Baloch ideology and ultimately they would become a part of Frozen Death.”
Asghar Baloch said that we as a party or as a nation have to keep our enforced missing persons alive. “Our human rights organizations should collect data as well as the party should use every avenue to collect data regarding the enforced disappearances. It is our responsibility to keep all enforced disappeared people alive through continuous data collection. They should be kept alive in psyche so that our people can survive this frozen death.”
Addressing the online meeting, Gwahram Baloch agreed with the points raised by Asghar Baloch. “It is our responsibility as a party to do more in this field. We need to connect with the families of enforced disappearances and collect data. We must work at the diaspora level, but the real focus of our struggle is the homeland Balochistan. We should work as full time workers and we need to fulfill our responsibilities and promote teamwork in the party. We know things should be done collectively because party affairs cannot be done on individual level.”
[…] Baloch National Movement (BNM) confirmed this fake encounter in a media statement, saying that “…the Counter-Terrorism Department staged a fake encounter to liquidate the five Baloch nationals that were already under its custody.” Two of the five persons – Jameel Ahmad Pirkani and Sami Ullah Pirkani – were reportedly detained by the Eagle Force, a tactical attack unit of the Pakistani military, from Quetta in January this year. The Eagle Force blamed the two detainees for carrying grenades and handed them over to the CTD. […]