Obituary
Mama Qadeer
Mir Mohammad Ali Talpur

“Your job was to take him away. Your job was to kill him. You have done your job. I can do the rest myself.” These words were spoken by Abdul Qadeer Baloch, Mama Qadeer, after a Deputy Commissioner offered to help him recover his son Mir Jalil Reki’s body. Mir Jalil was killed by the state after nearly three years in its custody and his mutilated body was dumped in Mand near the mountain of Shiraz along with another missing person, Muhammed Younis Baloch, on November 22, 2011. Mir Jalil had been taken by the state from Sariab Road, Quetta, after Friday prayers on February 13, 2009. Mama Qadeer did something that not many grandparents would do. Mama took Beauragh, son of Jalil, to Jalil’s mutilated body and told him who had done it. During Jalil’s absence, he kept telling Beauragh that his father had gone for some work.
What Mama Qadeer did will remain not only as a glorious chapter of Baloch resistance and struggle for rights and justice in the face of brazen, blatant and brutal repression, but also as an enduring legacy for all humanity, especially for those who stand up against oppression, lead the people on glorious paths of resistance and despite overwhelming odds, remain unbowed to the very end.
Before being finally informed of Jalil’s death in custody, Mama Qadeer knocked on every door to help get his son recovered, who was a political activist as the Information Secretary of the Baloch Republican Party (BRP). Mama Qadeer wrote and talked about the injustices and the missing persons. It would not be out of place to mention that with the installation of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) government in the Centre and in Balochistan in the year 2008, a reign of terror was let loose against the Baloch with an indiscriminate abduct, kill and dump policy. Today too there is a PPP government in Balochistan and there is an even more brazen and brutal reign of terror there.
It was against these injustices against the Baloch that prompted Mama to become the voice for all missing persons and an ear for all the woes that Baloch families suffered due to their loved ones being disappeared. Having lost hope in the state being able to provide justice to people, Mama Qadeer along with Nasrullah Baloch, whose uncle Asghar Bangulzai was disappeared in the year 2000, and Sammi Deen, whose father Dr Deen Mohammad Baloch was disappeared on June 28, 2009, formed the “Voice of Baloch Missing Persons” (VBMP).
From July 28, 2009, Mama Qadeer made the pavements outside press clubs his unassailable bastion of resistance and the voice of missing persons for 6,000 plus days, as long as he was well enough to go in the morning to the camp, place the pictures of the missing and dead for all to see, and sit there till evening when he would collect those pictures and go home. He didn’t mind if nobody visited the camp because for him it was a sacred duty to his people and land to keep reminding the world that Baloch persons are missing and more keep going missing without redressal. It was something that his soul kept urging him to continue. Whereas people give up after days or months of struggle, he was indefatigable and persisted in his quest for justice for the Baloch, all the while defying threats to his life and multiple arson attacks on his ‘Shamiana’ (protest tent). Rain, dust, heat, cold, nothing subdued his compassion for people, his iron will and defiant spirit to the very end. It is for people like him Nietzsche said, “It is not the strength, but the duration of great sentiments that makes great men.” Mama’s greatness is not only in his persistence but also his unbowing courage in defiance of those who tried to cow the Baloch with brutality.
Passivity was not in his nature and even his sitting outside press clubs was not something passive in substance and message. It was a clarion call for action, for awakening people to the grave reality of the state injustices against the Baloch. Mama being a man of action decided to highlight the issue of missing and extrajudicially killed persons by embarking on the VBMP Long March on October 27, 2013 from Quetta to Karachi with Farzana Majeed, whose brother Zakir Majeed had been missing since June 8, 2009, Sammi Deen, Ali Haider, whose father Ramzan Baloch was missing since July 14, 2010, and other relatives of missing persons.
It was a baptism by fire for all and there were blisters on feet, tired bodies and uncertain places of shelter for the nights but the spirits were undaunted. Ali Haider pushed a wheelbarrow with a placard on it saying: “March for Baloch Missing Persons – Quetta to Karachi. UNO must play a vital role to save Baloch Missing Persons.” The Baloch came out in droves to welcome and host the marchers for this march was for them. Mama and the marchers reached Karachi on November 22, 2013 to a tumultuous welcome in Lyari. Even the Defence Minister, Khwaja Asif, came and met Mama and promised the release of the missing persons but of course forgot about it soon after as his words were empty, without substance or sincerity.
On December 10, 2013, on Human Rights Day, a seminar was held at the Karachi Press Club where Mama and Farzana announced that they would now march from Karachi to Islamabad to highlight the plight of the missing. I asked Mama’s permission to join the march and he and Farzana agreed. I marched with them in different stages for 26 days and they were my guests in Hyderabad for three nights.
The Long March that Mama initiated and undertook with relatives of the missing and dead was a unique expression of his resilient and defiant character. A character that knew no odds and no number of threats or disadvantages could browbeat or cow him into yielding and giving up on the course of action once charted out and taken. Being a participant, I know the determination it took to go on and on every day for 80 days, always unsure where the night would be spent and what the weather would be like, what sort of people would they come across, etc. Despite all this it was the unfailing spirit of Mama and the women and girls that accomplished the impossible. This Long March represents the essence of the Baloch character of defying the odds and persisting with one’s course of action.
Mama Qadeer’s silent and sedentary 6,000 days plus protest for missing persons was the loudest voice and the most active protest for human rights. In Argentina it was the Mothers of Mayo Del Plaza and here, in Mama Qadeer, the father and mother figure were rolled into one. He manned the barricades without concern for his safety or comfort to ensure that those whose relatives were missing could get a hearing, for here the courts are deaf, and that their voices would be heard, for here the media is compromised.
Mama Qadeer was from that rare breed of men who leave an indelible impact on the lives of people. His struggle will always survive as a legacy. It is etched into the consciousness of history by his compassion, courage and consistency.
Farewell Mama, you will always be loved and you will forever live with us in our hearts.