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| German Journalist Wolfgang Bauer |
Occupied Balochistan: The fates of Baloch fishermen, who were under the
captivity of Somali pirates for almost a year, have finally been changed, as a
German journalist, Wolfgang Bauer, comes in to help these formerly helpless
fishermen. On 25th of November, these fishermen were finally
released from Somali captivity and now are back amongst their loved ones.
According to
details, 11 Baloch fishermen, named; Nahuda Ibrahim, Saleh Muhammad, Huda Baksh
Passo, Yunes Baloch and Tahir Baloch from Balochistans’ region of Pishukaan, Rahim
Baksh from Paanwaan, Munir Ahmed from Guwader, Mohammad Rafiq and Qadir Baksh
from Dasht (Turbat) and Muhammad Hanif and Muhammad Ali from Mashkay; were
kidnapped by Somali pirates from open sea in the month of December, 2010. According
to the family members of the kidnapped fishermen, the ransom demanded by the
pirates for the release of these fishermen was three hundred thousand dollars
($ 300,000), even after knowing that these fishermen were unable to pay this
sort of a ransom, the pirates perhaps would have thought that in a country like
Pakistan, with people like Ansar Burney who could pay 2.1 million dollars for
four Pakistani seamen would probably take the plight of these fishermen too,
and arrange the sum of $ 300,000 of these “supposedly” eleven “Pakistani”
fishermen… What the pirates were unaware of was the status of Baloch nation in
Pakistan and the history of the occupation of the motherland by Pakistan. The
pirates didn’t know that they would have actually been saving some hard work
for Pakistan’s establishment by killing these fishermen, as then Pakistan would
not have to murder them and later on throw their dead bodies on the road sides
to instill fear amongst the Baloch populace. In just one year, Pakistan has
abducted and torture murdered more than 250 Balochs and their dead bodies were
dumped on the roadsides of Baloch populated areas.
Seeing no
response from Pakistan, and supposed saints as Ansar Burney, the families of
the kidnapped Balochs had probably lost all their hopes of having their sons,
fathers, brothers and husbands back from the Somali pirates; But in this moment
of hopelessness, a German journalist, Wolfgang Bauer, steped into the scenario
and tried contacting the Pakistani embassy in Kenya in his efforts to get the
fishermen released. This effort of his was of no avail, and then he made
contacts with the Kenyan government and other African officials to negotiate a
release of the fishermen. With his efforts, the fishermen were released on 25th
of November, 2011 without any payment of the ransom and he arranged tickets for
the kidnapped to flew them to Kenya and from Kenya to U.A.E.. Finally when
these fishermen were brought to Karachi airport, instead of any appreciation of
his efforts for the release of these fishermen, the military agencies of
Pakistan warned the journalist for not entering Balochistan and threatened him
of dire consequences for doing so. Bauer, for whom state torture was not a new
concept, as he had already reported on the use of torture by Afghan and
American authorities in Afghanistan, avoided taking these fishermen to their homes
and helped the fishermen get basic medical treatment in Karachi on his own.
This story
certainly highlights that there does exist humanity in this world, but it also
highlight the mercilessness of Pakistan’s establishment and N.G.O.’s in Baloch
cases. Indeed the extremes of human’s destructive and productive attitudes are
what can easily be derived out of this plight that the Baloch fishermen went
through, the issue in question is, Will the International community chose to
act like Wolfgang Bauer on the routine murders of Balochs by Pakistan army and
become an example of the progress of Human civilization or would they chose to
be Ansar Burney and be subjective when it comes to the terms “humanity” and “civilization”.
