Articles for author: Lateef Johar

درێگتێن من ساجد بدیستێن

ساجد و منی سنگتیۓ اُمر اینکس دراج نه‌اَت که سد ھمینکس من چه آییا در بُرتگ۔ چار سالیێن سنگتیا من چه ساجد ھمنچک چیز ھیل کرت که منا وتا باوَر نبوت۔ آ ھم آنلاین۔ اے ھبر منا مدام بژنیگَ کنت که من گۆن ساجدا هجبر ھم دُچار نکپتان۔ ساجدا تئیی ھبر انچۆ په دلگۆش گۆش ...

Lateef Johar

Farewell, Kamash Ilahi Bakhsh

In Balochistan, almost every day ends with a sad, painful story and dying hopes. Last Sunday, it ended with the news of the passing away of Ilahi Bakhsh, the father of former BSO chairman Zahid Baloch who has been in the illegal custody of Pakistani intelligence for the past six years. The old man waited ...

Lateef Johar

No peace for Balochistan

Nothing stops the Pakistani army from violating the Baloch people’s rights, not even natural calamities. There have been reports of enforced disappearances in Balochistan on a daily basis despite a call from the United Nations to stop armed activity during the ongoing global pandemic. The army in fact tries to cash in on natural disasters ...

Lateef Johar

Retired UAE police sergeant forcibly disappeared in Karachi

A Baloch who previously worked as a sergeant in the United Arab Emirates police has been whisked away by security forces just after he arrived in Karachi. Haji Abdul Samad, apparently in his sixties, posted a video on the Facebook Page News Gidroshia, saying his brother, Haji Sher Jan, was detained at the Jinnah International ...

Lateef Johar

Dear world, does a Baloch life really matter?

In October three years ago, I, accompanied by a few fellow refugees from Balochistan, waited outside a Canada Border Services Agency office for another Baloch refugee friend who was being investigated to ascertain he was not a bad guy. As we waited, we received the news that another friend, a Baloch student leader, has been ...

Lateef Johar

Is army extorting money in Balochistan?

As enforced disappearances and kill-and-dump operations continue in Balochistan, an increasing number of evidence is surfacing to prove Pakistan army’s involvement in extorting money from the families of victims. On August 20, 2019, a friend sent me a link to a news story on WhatsApp with the headline: “[Pakistan] Army major gets life term for ...

Lateef Johar

Eight-year-old Bohair. He was eight months old when his father was taken away by the military.

The tragic story of a Baloch family from the ‘town of mass graves’

On Feb 18, 2019, online Baloch activists shared a picture of a smiling eight-year-old child with a caption that read that Bohair was an eight-month-old infant when his father, Atiq Ur Rahman, was abducted by Pakistan military and he is still missing. Atiq was taken away during a late-night raid on his house in Khuzda’r ...

Lateef Johar

Another student goes missing, leaving family wondering why?

Family members and friends lost connection with Sarfaraz Ahmed, 20, a student at the Department of Psychology of Peshawar University, at the midnight of Feb 13, this year. Sarfaraz was expected in Dera Ghazi Khan (D.G. Khan), a Baloch-dominated city in Punjab, by 11:00 am the following day to spend time with his student friends. ...