Visiting the Missing & Murdered Baloch on YouTube [video thread]

1/ In 2009, @NasimZehra did an episode of her talk show on student issues in Balochistan. The most vocal guest was a young poli sci student from Karachi University named Zahid Baloch

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2/ Zahid was secretary general of the Baloch Students Organisation ( @BSO__AZAD) then, a student group aligned with the Baloch separatist movement. He later became chairperson of BSO-A before he went "missing" (read kidnapped by security agencies) in March 2014.

3/ Zahid hasn't been seen since, like thousands of other Baloch nationalists who have been extrajudicially kidnapped or murdered in our Dirty War in Balochistan. When those of us in "mainstream" Pakistan hear about these incidents, it's easy for us to ignore...

4/ ... not only because of state censorship and disinformation, but also because we don't see the faces & speech behind the names. But if you look up the names on YouTube, the videos show that many of the victims were well known political activists or intellectuals.

5/ So in this thread I want to share some YouTube videos of murdered & abducted Baloch nationalists. Many Pakistanis will be deeply offended by their views -- but they are no different from the anger expressed by any liberation movement in any part of the world.

6/ Here's another clip of Zahid from the @NasimZehra show on Dunya in which he frames the relationship between Pakistan and Balochistan as one of coloniser and colonised, citing Fanon and Paolo Freire

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7/ In this Sep 2013 interview with BBC Urdu, Zahid explains that anyone who speaks about freedom for Balochistan gets kidnapped, tortured or murdered by authorities, without distinguishing between political activists, writer or guerillas

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8/ Let's go back to that July 2009 show on Dunya News. Sitting at the back there was another student who didn't get to say much: Qambar Chakar Baloch. Like Zahid, Qambar was also a leading organiser of BSO-A.

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9/ This is Chakar Qambar a few months earlier delivering a fiery speech at a protest against the extrajudicial killing of political activist Ghulam Mohd Baloch (discussed later in this thread), vowing to take revenge

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10/ If I have my dates correct, Qambar was picked up by security agencies just 2 days after the Dunya News show on 10 July 2009. He was released in April 2010 before being abducted again in Nov 2010. His bullet riddled body was found in Turbat on 5 Jan 2011.

11/ Let's have a look at @NasimZehra's 2009 show one last time.

This is Shabana Majeed. Her brother, Zakir Majeed was a uni student studying English and central BSO leader. He was forcibly disappeared a month before the show aired

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12/ This is Zakir Majeed speaking at a BSO event in Hyderabad earlier in 2009. He tells Sindhi nationalists that national liberation is impossible without sacrifice, citing Bhagat Singh. He encourages them to follow the path of Baloch nationalists.

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13/ Indeed Zakir himself had to pay a heavy price. A few months later on June 8, 2009, he was forcibly disappeared from Mastung and has not been seen since. His sister Farzana has been leading the campaign for his release for the past ten years.

14/ Along with Mama Qadeer and others, Farzana was a leading figure of the @VBMP5 Long March from Quetta to Karachi to Islamabad looking for justice. This is her in Islamabad responding to journalists about why they were appealing to the UN

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15/ @QadeerMama, the leader of the Voice for Baloch Missing Persons @VBMP5, was the father of Jalil Reki, Information Secretary of the Baloch Republican Party @BRP_MediaCell. In this video from July 2008, Jalil explains why the BRP was formed

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16/ Jalil Reki was picked up by intelligence officials in February 2009 and remained missing until November 2011 when his dead body was found bearing recent torture marks and 3 bullets near his heart.

Writer @mohammedhanif wrote about his story: https://www.dawn.com/news/694708 

17/ This is Ghulam Mohd Baloch, ex-leader of the Baloch National Movement @BNMovement_, a political org campaigning for Balochistan's secession.

In this clip from mid-2000s he explains why many Baloch reject Pakistan's parliament.

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18/ GM Baloch also began his politics in BSO in his student years. Before his death he was a key figure in promoting the idea of outright secession for Balochistan.

Here's a clip from an angry speech he gave at a rally in Lyari, Karachi, in Sep 2006

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19/ GM Baloch was arrested several times for his activism. On April 3, 2009 he was picked up for the last time, as his bullet riddled body was found 5 days later from near Turbat, along with the bodies of 2 other activists, Lala Munir & Sher Mohammed Baloch

20/ GM Baloch's death sparked protests and strikes across Balochistan.

This is a song produced in his honor, sung by Arif Baloch, using GM Baloch's own poetry. Video directed by @drhanifsharif who was a victim of enforced disappearance himself

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21/ Lala Munir was one of the people who was abducted and killed along with GM Baloch. He was the vice president of the BNM at the time of his murder.

This is him speaking at a BNM rally in Pasni just a week before his abduction (in Balochi)

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22/ Sangat Sana, born in Mastung, was a former vice-chairman of BSO-A, and a leader of the BRP before his death.

This is him speaking to ethnic Baloch residents of Dera Ghazi Khan, encouraging them to support the Baloch nationalist cause

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23/ Sangat Sana was abducted on 7 December 2009 while traveling from Mastung to Sibi.

He remained missing for over 2 years before his body was found on 13 Feb 2012 near Turbat bearing torture marks, at the age of 33.

24/ Qayyum Baloch was a central committee member of BSO-A, hailing from Gwadar. He was abducted by state agencies on 11 Dec 2010, and his mutilated body was found in Feb 2011.

This is him addressing a BSO rally in Tump in 2008 (in Balochi)

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25/ Raza Jahangir (aka Shey Mureed) was secretary general of BSO before he was killed on 14 Aug 2013 by security forces in a raid on the home he was staying in Turbat.

This is him speaking (in Balochi) at a BSO seminar in Malir, Karachi, in Dec 2010

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26/ Prof Saba Dashtiyari was born in Lyari, Karachi and went on to become a professor of Islamic Studies at Balochistan University in Quetta.

He wrote over 24 fiction and non-fiction books and built the Zahoor Hashmi reference library archiving all forms of Balochi literature.

27/ In his later years he became active in Baloch nationalist politics.

This is him speaking at a seminar on Baloch missing persons at Karachi Press Club in July 2010. He was interrupted by an audience member but he refused to be silent

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28/ Prof Saba's scholarly background, his eloquent Urdu, combined with his uncompromising politics may have been what made him intolerable to the powers that be. This is his last speech, at the Quetta Press Club, before he was shot dead on 1 June 2011

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29/ While Prof Saba's political speeches were fiery and angry, he also had his soft side.

This is him doing a rendition of the ghazal 'Pyar nahin hai sur se jisko' made famous by Ustad Amanat Ali Khan in Raag Malkauns

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30/ This is Saba Dashtiyari speaking in Quetta in Nov 2010 on the anniversary of Balach Marri's death.

He says the liberation movement will not become a success until the guerilla war in the mountains is converted to an intifada in settled areas

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31/ Speaking at a BSO-A seminar in Malir, Karachi, in Dec 2010 said he considered Fanon's Wretched of the Earth to be a political bible for the liberation movement.

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32/ This is Shafi Baloch who was joint secretary of BSO-A. On 18 June 2011, he was abducted from a passenger vehicle by security agencies while traveling to Mastung. His bullet riddled body was found near Mach.

This was his last speech in Sibi.

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33/ Meer Jan Meeral was a Balochi poet from Tump. However he chose to swap his pen for a gun and joined the guerilla fighters himself.

He was killed on 3 Sep 2009 near Tump reportedly in an attack on FC personnel.

This is him reciting at a mushaira

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34/ 3 days after Meeral's death, the Baloch National Movement held a memorial event for him inside a high school in Tump.

The event was attacked by security forces while the speeches were under way and at least one person was killed.

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35/ Habib Jalib Baloch was a BSO alumni and former senator of @BNP_Office and aide to @sakhtarmengal. He used parliamentary means to attain greater rights for Baloch rather than secession.

He was shot dead in Quetta by unknown men on 14 July 2010

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36/ @DrMannanBaloch was a medical doctor from Mashkay who resigned as a govt medical officer in 2011 and was the general secretary of @BNMovement_ at the time of his death.

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37/ As a doctor he had earlier worked on health conditions of the internally displaced persons of the Balochistan conflict.

He was killed in a military operation in Mastung on 30 Jan 2016

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38/ Master Abdul Rehman Arif was a teacher from Gwadar who became the president of the BRP's Gwadar chapter. He was abducted from Karachi on 3 Sep 2010 and his mutilated body was found in Ormara 6 months later.

This is him speaking to Al Jazeera

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39/ Sat next to Master Rehman in the previous video was Ahmed Dad, a former Gwadar president of the BRP. He was abducted from Gwadar on 3 Oct 2010 and his tortured body was found near Ormara.

This is him addressing a protest in the Al Jazeera doc

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40/ In the Al Jazeera clip you can also see a glimpse of Hameed Baloch, a journalist and president of BNM's Gwadar chapter. His body was found in Turbat on 18 Nov 2010, 24 days after he was abducted from Gwadar.

This is him speaking in Pasni in 2009

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41/ Agha Abid Shah from Panjgur began his politics with BSO as a student before joining BNM. Here he is speaking at a memorial for Lala Hameed (mentioned earlier) in 2009

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42/ Agha Abid Shah was abducted from Panjgur on 15 Aug 2010 and his bullet ridden mutilated body was found almost 9 months later with 5 others.

Here he is singing the unofficial Baloch anthem "Ma chukkein balochani" at a 2003 BSO event in Quetta

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43/ Naseer Kamalan was a poet and a senior BNM leader from Gwadar. He was abducted from a passenger van by FC near Pasni on 5 Nov 2010. His body was found near Ormara 2 months later with Ahmad Daad's body.

Here he is reciting poetry at a BNM event

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44/ This is one of Naseer Kamalan's Balochi resistance poems set to music being performed by Salah Baloch. Can anyone translate?

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45/ And lets go further back in time. This is Fida Ahmed speaking in 1987. He was secretary general of BSO and founder of BNYM, the precursor to BNM and held masters degrees in Economics & English Lit. He was assassinated in his book shop in May 1988

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46/ Even further back in time is Hameed Baloch. He was a student and BSO member in Turbat. In 1979, an Omani military officer was in Balochistan to recruit young Baloch to fight against Marxist rebels staging an uprising in the southern Dhofar region of Oman.

47/ Hameed opposed the idea of Baloch being used as mercenaries to put down a popular uprising in another land, so he attempted to shoot the Omani officer. He was unsuccessful but he was arrested and sentenced to death by a military court.

48/ Hameed was executed in June 1981. There aren't any videos of him, but there are copies of his prison letters. Note the bottom of the 1st page where he expresses his solidarity with the Dhofari rebels of Oman and against US imperialism.

49/ I hope this thread has shed some light on who the dead and missing Baloch are. I don't speak Balochi, so apologies in advance for any errors and please let me know of corrections.

50/ The cases I've highlighted in this thread are just those people for whom I could find a record on YouTube, but there are countless other dead and missing whose videos arent available...

51/ ... such as ex-Info Secretary of BSO Shabir Baloch, or BNM activist Rashid Hussain, whose sister @fareeda_baluch has been campaigning for his release.

52/ You may have also noticed that the overwhelming majority of the victims were from educated working class backgrounds mostly from the settled Makran region in the south rather than the tribal area in the north.

53/ And in particular consider how the leadership of BSO and BNM has been decimated, maybe because they are the most responsible for spreading the ideology of secession amongst the educated youth and masses in general -- a greater these than the guerillas.

54/ I'm sure there will be many Pakistani Patriots who will brush the issue aside by labelling all the victims as brainwashed Indian-backed terrorists. And on the other hand Indian Patriots will share this thread as though it is a justification for their oppression in Kashmir.

52/ We can disagree with the words and thoughts of the victims as much as we want. But as thinking Pakistanis, do we really think the issue will disappear by continuing to kidnap and murder them?

Can we afford to remain silent any longer?

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