There is perhaps some magnetic force in the country that silences each and every voice who speaks for two words ‘Bloch’ and ‘Blochistan’.
A peace and right activist Sabeen Mahmud gunned down in Karachi moment after concluding talks organized by her with the title of “Unsilencing Blochistan (Take 2)”.
Sabeen was the founder of The Second Floor known as T2F, a community space for open dialogue where different kinds of people can comfortably talk on unspoken issues of society.
Sabeen, along by her mom, left T2F after 9pm on Friday evening and was en route home when she was shot by unidentified shooters in Defense Phase-II. She passed on her way to the hospital. Doctors recovered five bullets from her body.
Her mother also received bullets wounds and reported in critical condition
A panel discussion on the topic “Unsilencing Blochistan (Take 2)” was held between Mama Qadeer, Farzana Baloch, Mir Mohammad Ali Talpur and Wusat Ullah Khan moderated by activist Moneeza Ahmed.
The issue of missing persons was discussed in the talks, which was not new to Pakistan. Mama Qadeer, Farzana Baloch, and Mir Mohammad Ali Talpur are the members of the effected family and are the active participants of the protests held on the issue.
Mama Qadeer along with 20 other members of the effected families held a long march from Quetta to Karachi in 2013, and made a demand from the government to release their missing family members otherwise stop torturing them, produce them in front of court and punish them according to law.
His son Jalil Reki, member of the Baloch Republican Party, was found shot dead in 2011 after being missing since 2009, soon after the long march of Mama Qadeer. “There is a limit to our tolerance. Imagine how it must have felt when in the middle of the Long March, after reaching Dera Ghazi Khan, we saw the news of the discovery of a mass grave in Khuzdar” said Mama Qadeer.
Farzana Baloch, whose brother Zakir is still missing said “If our brothers, sons and fathers are guilty of a crime, produce them in court and charge them officially. Punish them after charging them. But follow the law and the constitution.”
Another panel participant, Mir Mohammad Ali Talpur while complaining said “how people in the country only hear the state’s narrative and no one is willing to hear ours. So what the state labels us that how people refer to us.”
A seminar on the same topic ‘Unsilencing Balochistan’ scheduled to be held at the Lahore University of Management Sciences was cancelled after receiving threats.
Local and international community showed strong upon the murder of Sabeen Mahmud in their twitter messages.
Pakistani intelligence agencies shot dead #SabeenMahmud who organised #UnsilencingBalochstan at T2F today
— Faiz M Baluch (@FaizMBaluch) April 24, 2015
@ImaanZHazir And our media will not expose these “Maloom” silent killers. #SabeenMahmud #MamaQadeer #Balochistan.
— Salman Shah (@salmanshah100) April 24, 2015
It’s no more about rebels, it’s about whoever talks about #Balochistan. #SabeenMahmud #T2F
— NoNy (@azad_me) April 24, 2015
Will everyone who talks abt #UnsilencingBalochistan be murdered?? #SabeenMahmud shot dead after #MamaQadeer event pic.twitter.com/NOtaRfbf4E
— Ahmen Khawaja (@AhmenKhawaja) April 24, 2015
anyone still under delusion about the course correction at Rawalpindi? #RIP #SabeenMahmud #Balochistan
— Mohammad Taqi (@mazdaki) April 24, 2015
Each critical voice being silenced one by one. Bravery and courage rewarded by bullets. Sadly, we will forget. #SabeenMahmud
— Quatrina (@QuatrinaHosain) April 24, 2015
You speak you die. ISI ‘s message, loud and clear to all those speaking up for Balochistan. #UnsilencingBalochistan #SabeenMahmud.
— Alizeh Iqbal Haider (@AlizehIHaider) April 24, 2015
Here are some response from neighboring country and international community.
If killing of #SabeenMahmud is warning by Pakistan to those who speak #Balochistan, then here is my answer: Fuck you #ISI, we r not afraid.
— Tarek Fatah (@TarekFatah) April 24, 2015
Prominent Pakistani rights activist killed http://t.co/QM29p6YjK6
— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) April 25, 2015
Hence, another voice of reason silenced in Pakistan speaking up for Balochs. “Fear is just a line in the head” said by Sabeen and know we must all decide which side of line we stand.
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