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Karachi: Nadia Baloch was a child when her father, Abdul Ghaffar Langove, was abducted and imprisoned and, later, his bullet-riddled body was found. Now she finds herself waiting outside the same Quetta jail where he was once held, pleading with the police for permission to meet her elder sister Mahrang.

Mahrang Baloch, 32, a rights campaigner speaking up against forced disappearances in Balochistan, was arrested on March 22 during a peaceful protest against the killing of civilians and a crackdown on the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC).

“My mother said in a heavy voice, ‘First, they imprisoned your father, and I stood here with all of you when you were just children. Now years have passed, but the injustice remains the same. We are once again standing outside the jail, for eight hours, asking to meet your sister, my daughter, Mahrang,’” Nadia recounted.

‘Mahrang was manhandled by the police during her arrest’

In 2009, Mahleb Deen Baloch had stood with her elder sister Sammi Deen Baloch, holding up their father’s photograph, demanding to know his whereabouts after he was abducted. Dr Deen Mohammad Baloch remains untraced. This past week, accompanied by their adopted four-year-old sister Mahtab, Mahleb was protesting Sammi’s arrest.

Sammi Deen Baloch is a powerful voice against enforced disappearances. Like Mahrang, she had begun speaking out as a teenager to fight for the release of her father.

On March 24, the Karachi chapter of the BYC and civil society members had organised a peaceful demonstration against the arrest of Mahrang and other activists. The police responded with force. Among those arrested was Sammi, who had neither given a speech nor chanted any slogans. She had simply stood silently, holding a picture of Mahrang.

“When Sammi was being taken to jail, I told myself, maybe she will meet Baba there – even though I knew it was impossible,” said Mahleb. “Still, I kept repeating it to console myself.”

Sammi’s mother, Bibi Nazkhatoon, who has spent a decade and a half seeking her husband’s return, stood at the gate of Karachi Central Jail waiting to see her.

“If other mothers’ children are behind bars for asking for justice, and now my daughter is too, it makes no difference,” she said, trying to appear strong. Yet her trembling voice and tear-filled eyes gave away a mother’s pain.

Sammi, who received the Front Line Defenders Award in 2024, is her family’s pillar. Since her arrest, Mahleb has had........

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