The state has launched a wave of arrests, seizures and punishments across Pakistan to terrorise Ahmadis into submission. The Baloch have decided not to celebrate the important festival. It is not that they are forbidden like the Ahmadis. They are angry at Pakistan for thousands of disappeared Baloch … writes Dr Sakariya Kareem
As the world celebrates Eid, in Pakistan thousands of Baloch have decided to abstain from any celebration and thousands of Ahmadias have been forced to stay clear of any celebration out of fear of retribution from the state and the Sunni majority.
Days before the celebration, Ahmadis, who are not treated as Muslims by Pakistan and the majority of its citizens, were instructed not to take part in the celebrations which others were entitled to. An Ahmadi in Pakistan is not legally and otherwise allowed to practise his faith, or follow its traditions and festivals.
While everyone in Pakistan can wish each other, to join in community feasting and celebrations, Ahmadis cannot dare to. If anyone does, they will invite instant punishment from the state or from several extremist parties that have called for the boycott of the Ahmadi community from any Eid celebration.
The state has launched a wave of arrests, seizures and punishments across Pakistan to terrorise Ahmadis into submission. The Baloch have decided not to celebrate the important festival. It is not that they are forbidden like the Ahmadis. They are angry at Pakistan for thousands of disappeared Baloch. These men and women have been abducted by state agencies and kept in secret prisons for months and years. Their fault has been to raise their voice against state repression.
The Baloch want the state and other citizens to know the pain of family members who have been running from pillar to post to know what happened to their loved ones. Daughters and sons have been on the streets for days and weeks seeking answers from the state. Parents have been knocking at the doors of courts for some reprieve. Many are sitting in protest outside the Karachi Press Club and other prominent places where they expect the media to take notice of their plight.
This is what a grieving daughter wrote: Today marks another day of unbearable uncertainty, the 14th year of my father’s disappearance. My father, a pillar of strength and love, still remains in the shadow of tyranny. The agony of not knowing his whereabouts, his safety, or when we’ll be reunited tears at my heart.“ Another daughter, Mehlab, has a heart full of sorrow for her father Dr Deen Mohammad who was abducted by state agencies in 2009.
“When families of Missing Persons no longer have in the justice system, we will uphold our own justice,” says the grief-stricken daughter. The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan has decided to support the Baloch stand during Eid. The commission said Dr Deen Mohammad Baloch had disappeared 14 years ago and his family since had been seeking an answer from the state. “ And received none. This Eid, HRCP stands in solidarity with his daughter, and with all other victims of enforced disappearances.”
The family members of the disappeared Baloch protest the Supreme Court’s concerns for the safety of 102 persons in military custody for the May 9 violence but the same court stayed a 2019 Peshawar High Court ruling directing the state to transfer hundreds of prisoners from the military’s secret prisons to regular jails in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.