The family of missing Balochi singer and school Headmaster Rafiq Oman marked the 11th anniversary of his enforced disappearance with a press conference at Turbat Press Club. Speaking alongside her mother and grandmother, his daughter said that despite more than a decade having passed, there has been no information about my father.
According to the family, Rafiq Oman, who served as Headmaster at Government Boys High School in Buleda and was also a well-known Balochi-language singer, was abducted on November 21, 2014. He was taken by Pakistani forces near Kech Grammar School on his way back to Buleda from Turbat, where he had gone for official work.
His daughter said the family has lived in uncertainty and anguish for 11 years. “We do not know whether our father is alive or not. My mother doesn’t know if she is a widow or still has a husband. My younger sister, born months after his disappearance, has never even seen him,” she added. She described how her elderly grandmother often sleeps outside in winter and summer, consumed by worry about her missing son’s suffering.
The family stated they have knocked on every door for justice, approaching courts, commissions and government institutions, but no progress has been made. They demanded that if there are allegations against Rafiq Oman, he should be produced before a court instead of being kept disappeared.
They appealed to the government and human rights organizations to take immediate steps for his safe recovery and to devise a serious policy for resolving the wider issue of enforced disappearances in Balochistan. The family pledged to continue their struggle peacefully and expressed hope that journalists would help amplify their voice to the authorities.
