ISLAMABAD: The speakers at a seminar were unanimous on Friday in demanding that “the abhorrent enforced disappearances in the country must come to an end”.
Speaking at a seminar in connection with International Rights Day, the people belonging to academia, civil society, media as well as the families of the missing persons called on the authorities to end the use of forced disappearances as a tool of state policy.
Akhtar Mengal, the chairman of Balochistan National Party-Mengal (BNP-M) said that “when that glorious day will come when they will meet with their missing near and dear ones”.
He said that thin attendance of media and political party leaders show what is the importance of human rights in a country like Pakistan, adding if there had been some other function, there could have been hundreds of camera crews and political party leadership.
In an obvious reference to the military and the West’s rhetoric of human rights, he said: “In this country, a person who is wearing khaki uniform is called a human and in the world, and human rights are solely for those who have white skins, but unfortunately people like us have none”.
“In a society like ours, there is no concept of a woman going out unnecessarily, but today our women have to come on roads in protest for the recovery of their near and dear ones,” he lamented.
He continued that in a society like Pakistan might is rights as plight of near and dear ones of the missing persons fall on deaf ear, adding “we may not be as powerful as they (establishment) are but we will fight to the end as our conscience is not dead”.
Mengal regretted that the constitution of Pakistan which is supposed to be guarantor of people’s fundamental rights itself not in the country as what successive military generals did to sacred document is no privy to us all.
Mengal who parted ways with ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) for not doing enough with regard to recovery of missing persons, also came down hard on the government for its inability to put an end to the issue of enforced disappearance.
Mengal said that the people of Balochistan especially the youth are killed or remained untraced after being kidnapped by “unknown” forces when they speak for their rights, adding no matter what we will continue to fight for our rights.
“The seed of hatred you are sowing today is going to haunt you for years to come. Hitler died, Genghis Khan and Halagu Khan are no more, but the world still hates them, and the same thing [hatred] will certainly remain in the hearts of Baloch for the way they are being treated today by the people at the helm of affairs,” he warned.
In the same breath, he said that the historian will pen down the cruelties being done to the people of Balochistan, adding “we may not be there but the epitaphs on our graves will hate you”.
Despite all the cruelties being meted out to Baloch people, he added, we knocked every door including the military, the chairman of commission on persons on enforced disappearance, the director general Inter-Services Intelligence, and the ruling PTI when before joining the coalition, but all ended up in smoke.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021
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