Quetta: Dr. Mahrang Baloch stated that Mama Qadeer Baloch will always be remembered for his unwavering steadfastness, sacrifices and long years of struggle.
She recalled that during her father’s enforced disappearance, the news of Nawab Akbar Bugti’s martyrdom reached her through an old newspaper wrapped around a stale piece of bread. Her father described that moment as a deep psychological trauma of his life. In a similar way, during the past nine months of her own imprisonment, news of ongoing enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings in Balochistan has continuously reached her.
According to Mahrang Baloch, whenever visitors came to meet her, her first question was often whether another innocent person had been killed that day and how many more Baloch youths and daughters the state had forcibly disappeared.
She said that the newspaper that arrived on December 20 brought yet another painful piece of news. That same day marked the fifth anniversary of Baloch political leader Banuk Karima Baloch. She was telling her fellow detainees Gulzadi and Beebow Baloch about the hardships faced while transporting Karima’s body from Karachi to Tump when she received the news of Mama Qadeer Baloch’s death.
Dr. Mahrang Baloch described Mama Qadeer as a principled and resolute political worker of the Baloch national movement. She said that for sixteen years, he continuously struggled for the recovery of forcibly disappeared Baloch persons. The camp for missing persons established under Mama Qadeer’s leadership served as a crucial source of early political training for every Baloch political activist, including Mahrang Baloch herself.
She said that the photographs displayed at the camp presented a horrific picture of Baloch genocide to the world for more than two decades.
According to her, at a time when Pakistani media remained silent on serious human rights violations in Balochistan and conscience-sellers in politics fabricated false narratives of so-called development, Mama Qadeer’s camp continued to expose state violence and oppression.
Mahrang Baloch said that when Balochistan’s land was yielding dead bodies and much of the political leadership struggling for Baloch rights had either been forcibly disappeared or martyred including Mama Qadeer’s own son, Jalil Reki he did not succumb to personal grief. Instead, he shouldered the responsibility of fighting for the recovery of other disappeared persons and became a symbol of courage, perseverance and resistance for families affected by state repression.
She added that as incidents of extrajudicial killings of missing persons increased, one wall of the camp gradually replaced the title “Photographs of Missing Youth” with “Photographs of Martyred Youth.” As the pace of Baloch genocide intensified, Mama Qadeer stopped printing new posters and instead simply wrote “Recovered” or “Martyred” next to the photographs.
According to Mahrang Baloch, during these sixteen years, Mama Qadeer completely merged his personal life with the collective struggle. However, whenever he spoke to journalists or political activists about the issue of enforced disappearances and mentioned his martyred son Jalil Reki, his facial expressions would change, with grief and anger simultaneously visible in his eyes. He would often say that he took Jalil’s son to his grave and told him how the state had killed his father after severe torture, so that the child might one day become part of the Baloch national movement.
Dr. Mahrang Baloch said that her father used to tell her that whenever she felt disheartened during imprisonment, she should look at the photographs displayed at Mama Qadeer’s camp, as they testified that people had been missing for years. After her father’s martyrdom, those same photographs gave her a new purpose and direction in life.
She said that she personally witnessed Mama Qadeer’s unwavering resistance. Even after the passing of Baba Khair Bakhsh Marri, Mama Qadeer stood firmly in the struggle to obtain his body. At a time when fear had silenced many families, Mama Qadeer did not forget the missing Baloch sons; instead, he continued to collect their details and present their names and photographs before the public.
In the concluding part of her statement, Dr. Mahrang Baloch said that Mama Qadeer Baloch was an exemplary and enduring political figure of the Baloch national movement. His sacrifices, courage, and continuous struggle are a guiding light for all political activists associated with the Baloch national movement. Mama Qadeer Baloch was a living symbol of resistance, courage, and struggle and he will always remain so.
