Taj Baloch

Missing: Jam Wahag

He called himself Jam Wahag. His real name was Jan Mohammad, but he did not like to be called by this name.

Jan Mohammad Allah Dad, a resident of Bit Buleda district Kech, Balochistan, was forcibly disappeared on March 13, 2013. He is missing since then.

In 2005, Ghulam Muhammad Baloch, the founding President of the Baloch National Movement visited Buleda, our village. He addressed a seminar and delivered a lecture on the history of Balochistan’s struggle for independence.

Jam Wahag asked Chairman Ghulam Mohammad, the man the Pakistan army hated most, to stay at his house. Chairman and his comrades were to stay in Buleda for two days and three nights.

I told Jam it was dangerous to host a person like Ghulam Mohammad. “It is Jam’s wahag (It is Jam’s wish),” he replied. “See, struggling for the right to self-determination is not illegal as long as it is peaceful. And Ghulam Mohammad is a political figure, not a militant,” he argued.

He belongs to a well-established and a respected family of businessmen. However, he, unlike the other youth of the family, did not want to live on the family’s wealth. Jam wished to establish his own business.

He opened a small shop. A very small shop, which shared walls with the huge shop owned by his eldest brother, who was almost fifty years older than him.

Jam was the eldest son from Allah Dad’s second marriage. His stepbrothers were wealthy enough to feed Jam’s mother, brothers and sisters. His eldest brother was known for extending a helping hand to those in need. But Jam did not want this.

His small shop could hardly contain more than two persons. But most time there were more than five friends sitting there, drinking tea, smoking cigarettes and discussing politics or literature in hushed voices. People would say there was a secret plan in the making because of the unstoppable gossips in low voices.

It was Jam’s wish to join the Baloch National Movement when Chairman Ghulam Mohammad revitalized the party in 2004. He liked the agenda and demand of self-determination. He liked to do his part in bridging the desires of farmers with the policy makers of the party. He joined BNM’s zonal cabinet in the area and after a couple of weeks, convinced the party to adopt a policy of working groups. The idea was that every cabinet member has to work with the people of a particular profession. He himself chose to work with farmers.

In the lawn of the tea shop opposite his very small shop, farmers gathered every evening. They weaved baskets and mats with dwarf leaves and he would sit with them for hours drinking tea. He helped farmers in their work and asked them questions: Is it not possible that the government buy your harvest at the end of every season and give you proper rewards?

The answer was known: No. Every farmer would reply a big no to all such questions. After every no, he kept asking more questions: Why do you think the government does not care for you?

He would bring the farmers to the conclusion that all their problems had been caused by foreign rule in Balochistan.

He knew that such discussions could not be tolerated for long. Yet, he did not stop.

On March 13, 2013, at 10:00 AM, Jam Wahag went to the Nadra office, Buleda, to collect his identity card, for which he had applied recently. Personnel of Frontier Corps came on a motorbike and asked him to go with him. They took him to the FC camp in the village.

His relatives and some other villagers went to the FC camp that evening. The FC officials brought Jam and gave him the opportunity to talk to his relatives. They promised that he would be handed over to the local administration later the same day. But it did not happen.

Jam Wahag remains missing for the last five years. His mother, five sisters, his wife and five kids still await him. They mourn as well. After all, one of the unidentifiable bodies found in mass graves could be his.

Don’t miss posts from Balochistan Times!

We don’t spam!

+ posts

Taj Baloch is a poet and linguist. He published the first anthology of his poetry in 2016 in both Roman and Arabic scripts. Baloch is the Coordinator of Human Rights Council of Balochistan.

He can be reached at @TajBloch

Leave a Comment