PARIS: Chairman of the Baloch National Movement (BNM), Dr. Naseem Baloch, has said that the Voice for Baloch Missing Persons (VBMP) protest camp reaching 6,000 days marks an extraordinary yet heartbreaking moment in Balochistan’s history. He expressed these views in a statement posted on X (formerly Twitter).
Dr. Naseem said the protest camp has stood for more than sixteen years as “a symbol of courage, endurance and the unbroken will” of families of Baloch enforced-disappearance victims. Despite being widely regarded as the longest-running protest camp in the world, he said, the Pakistani state continues to ignore its demands.
He highlighted the central role of Mama Qadeer Baloch, the VBMP vice chairman, whose life has become synonymous with the struggle for the safe recovery of Baloch missing persons. Dr. Naseem noted that while Mama Qadeer is now ill and unable to physically lead the sit-in as he once did, “his moral leadership remains unshaken.”
Recalling the origins of the movement, Dr. Naseem said the protest camp began in Quetta in 2009 after Mama Qadeer’s son, Jaleel Reki, was abducted, forcibly disappeared, and later found killed. “That personal tragedy did not break him, it transformed him,” he wrote. “Instead of mourning only his own loss, Mama Qadeer chose to become the voice of every Baloch family searching for their loved ones.”
Dr. Naseem noted that over the years, the VBMP camp has shifted between Quetta, Karachi and Islamabad, withstanding harsh winters, threats, intimidation and state silence yet it has never been shut down.
He described the VBMP’s long march, led by Mama Qadeer, as one of the movement’s most historic chapters. The march covered more than 2,000 kilometres from Quetta to Karachi and onward to Islamabad. “Mothers, sisters, children and elderly men walked beside him, carrying photographs of their missing loved ones,” Dr. Naseem wrote, calling the march a global symbol of peaceful resistance. Despite this unprecedented effort, he said, the authorities refused to acknowledge their demands.
“As the VBMP camp completes 6,000 days, it tells the story of a people who refuse to surrender their right to truth and justice,” Dr. Naseem said. He added that while Mama Qadeer’s health may be fragile today, “the movement he built continues to stand strong and as long as enforced disappearances continue in Balochistan, his voice will continue to echo.”
