By Muhammad Sharif
The month of august has reached with various pain, sorrow, miseries, heart-wrenching tragedies, and memories. The month of august has become a jinx for Baloch people. This month, the whole country celebrates the independence of Pakistan. While, in Balochistan, things and events are differently worked and celebrated.
This month, Shaheed Hayat Baloch, a native of Turbat, a young, energetic, and educated boy who was a student of Karachi University, was brutally killed by FC before his old and poor parents with eight bullets on 13 august 2020. I know the tale is outdated and sounds cliché, but the old and blind mother with a wounded heart is still waiting for justice. Even when you talk to Hayat’s mother about it, you feel that this happened yesterday. The wound and pain of losing a young son in such a way are not forgettable.
Let me shed some light on this unkind tragedy holistically and wholly what happened. When the vacation of COVID-19 got announced at Karachi University in March 2020, Hayat Baloch came to Turbat with many plans. He thought these vacations would help him earn money to bear the educational expenses.
Similarly, he also thought of helping his old parent on a farm. From then, he started working with his poor parent in date palm. His parent was Farmer. The data palm was near the main road of Balochi Bazar area, two kilometers distance from the city where frontier corps (FC) usually had to visit. The date was 13 August 2020; when Frontier forces were patrolling, suddenly a bomb was blasted nearby the area where Hayat and his parents were working. The FC armed forces got perplexed and furious. They started searching near or adjacent places. They entered into the data farms where Hayat Baloch worked with his parents. Many young farmers started running from that place when the bomb blast occurred and insisted Hayat run along with them. The innocent and naïve Hayat said, “When I did nothing, why should I run?”
FC armed men heatedly entered the farm, caught Hayat, and started dragging him out from the farm. His old mother was shocked and started imploring them, “he is working with her. He is just a kid. Please leave him, for God’s sake.” the mother of Hayat cried mercilessly, but no one was there to help her. At the same time, naive Hayat was also pleading to them; “please leave me, you are hurting my neck, it is aching, I were just working with my parents in date palm, I am innocent, I did nothing for God’s sake, I am just a student.” However, they were not ready to listen to him or his poor parents. Hayat started crying and praying to his mother; “O Amma mana e zalema the bacharen, e mana kushant, maan h nakurta, o Khuda main h nakurta, maanbegunao.” O, mother! I plead, please help me from these cruel monsters, they will kill me, o Mother! For God’s sake, I did nothing save me from these; I am innocent.” This was a heart-wrenching and heart-piercing situation; the mother was begging God to save the life of her innocent son, but she had to suffer to see the barbarism with her own eyes.
How cruel the reality was that God had turned his eyes towards this inhumaneness. His old father was pushed back, tightened his hand with rob, and threw into the farm’s dig. FC persons took his old mother’s cloak (Chadar), closed Hayat’s eyes, and started dragging him towards the main road. Hayat Baloch’s old mother was crying and started throwing a stone over them, but they were not ready to do little mercy. In the end, they lain Hayat down on the road in the hot summer of 48c, and finally, they fired eight bullets at him before his old and sobbing mother. On this day, the sky was fallen not only on Hayat’s mother’s heart but also on humanity. Who knew that the vacation of COVID-19 would snatch his life? Who knew the cruel month would not do mercy over a poor parent?
It cannot be possible to give appropriate words to the feelings of an old and poor mother who has seen all the brutality; the killing of her young and beloved son, who was her only and solely hoped to support her in her old age as I mentioned that this tragic accident came to occur in 13 august 2020. After a year, I came to visit her parent and Hayat’s younger brother when I got my vacation. Before Eid night, I visited Hayat’s home. My heart started beating speedily. I thought about how I could face them. I felt like I, too, were responsible for their miseries. I think my words would not justify what I had felt when I met them. Hayat’s old father, with sorrowful eyes, came first to meet me when I visited their home. I just hugged him tightly. I felt my half burden got lessened. I said, I am a friend of Hayat and am studying in Punjab.” His eyes sparked. He hugged me again. I became nervous. I did not know what to say. Unconditional, I said, “I have something for Hayat’s elder brother and a cloak (Chadar) for his mother. I handover the thing to his father and said,” Greetings.” Because I had lost all my confidence, consciousness, and nervous order to meet Hayat’s mother, but suddenly, what I saw; I saw his mother, who was looking at me from a distance. I could not control myself and rushed toward her. I kissed her hands and hugged her. When I hugged her, she started sobbing and crying. Her moaning voice was aching me internally. Her whimpering voice portrayed or showed that she is holding the most unmeasurable pain on earth. I became numb, nervous, and furious even I failed to say a single word. Then I run away from there. It was the most painful and sorrowful day of my life.
After Eid, I met some of Hayat’s family members. They shared about Hayat. They said that they were expecting many things from Hayat. Because he was not only a hardworking student but was also the only person in the family who was taking education at a higher level; therefore, they said with pessimistic tones and trimmed eyes that Hayat was Hayat for all family. They were expecting that this son would change the fate of their family. All family loved him because he was an obedient and hardworking young boy. The rest of them was illiterate. It cannot be exaggerated to say that Hayat was keen on education from his childhood. When he was a student in nine classes, he started earning by working shop with his uncles in the evening time. On the one-sided, he studied hard to secure his future. But in summer vacation, he used to work with his old and poor parents in date palm. When he passed his intermediate, he forced his low-income family to pursue higher education at Karachi University. After that, he took admission in Karachi University. He was very jolly and social in making new friends. He also took part in each program and conference. His teachers were pleased with him and his performances. However, he was an average student, but he usually took part in extra curricula activities.
He was beloved to his all family. He usually wore a Balochi cloak (Chadar). He had a jolly nature. He had many friends due to his humanistic and social behavior. One of the teachers shared a story about Hayat. While talking, her eyes got trimmed. She said “I got to know him when Hayat was in his first semester. He was really a humble and hardworking student. He gave respect to his teachers as a parent. Whenever he went on vacation home to Turbat, he came with some gifts for his teachers.
Similarly, he usually engaged the class with discussion. One of his close friends who grew up with him said,” whenever something terrible happened around him, he felt sorrow and got upset about that.” He was keen on his future and had made many plans. Even during graduation, some of his colleagues said he was also a CSS aspirant. He had planned after the completion of his graduation; he would appear in CSS. Here is what can be said; a young, passionate, hardworking, naïve, and innocent ‘Hayat’ is no more.
Nevertheless, who could dare to gather the courage to console or conceal to the family that Hayat is no more? Despite keeping himself away from Baluchistan’s issues and politics, he was still killed.
Hayat’s mother, a soft-hearted woman, always felt feared about the circumstances of Turbat. She always advised Hayat, “do not go outside nor visit friends unnecessarily.” She always surveilled Hayat. Whenever Hayat came late at home, she scolded him. She also advised him to be careful about the situation of Turbat as we know that since the emergence of the fifth insurgency, the Mekran division has remained the hotspot. Since then, the situation in Baluchistan has been terrifying and uncertain. Despite all of his care and safety, ignoring to visit a friend and going outside unnecessarily, Hayat still became the victim of circumstances and was brutally killed before his old parent.
I again say he was full of life. He was just 18 years old. He did not deserve to be killed; he deserved more appreciation and opportunities. I may not exaggerate if I say that any of us could be killed on any day by anyone if the situation continues like this and if Hayat would not get justice. However, mistakenly killing an innocent soul who was full of life is not justifiable. The cold-blooded murder of an enthusiastic and innocent Hayat is worse than George Floyd of America and Sarfaraz shah of Karachi. It was more than the accident. Hayat’s parents are still in trauma. Still, if someone visits them, they start crying and sobbing.
However, this barbaric event, for the time being, got spread. The picture of Hayat’s parents crying, mourning, and grieving over Hayat’s dead body, which was riddled with eight bullets, caught the attention of mainstream media after a week. In the meantime, someone took a picture and shared it on social media, which got viral. Similarly, various young Baloch students had become emotional and quit their education. At that time, I was in Lahore for my study purpose. I was sitting in our room with a Pashtoon friend; suddenly, someone sent me this on my Whatsup; When I saw the picture for the first time, my blood pressure got high, and my heart came to my mouth. It was a heart-piercing picture. When I showed it to my Pashtun friend, who was busy with his laptop, he was shocked and perplexed. His eyes got wet, and he got furious. He scolded me and warned me, “don’t show me such sort of things, please, for god’s sake, because I don’t have that much courage or big heart to see such thing.”
How brutally anyone killed someone before old parents.” I said, “We Baloch are used to bear such sorts of things from our childhoods.” He started smoking cigarettes. Thus, a soft-hearted person could not see the picture. Within a week, various protests had been held in many cities. Strikes were organized across the country. The picture not only portrayed a bleak image of Balochistan but also showed or unfolded the vulnerabilities of the Baloch nation. It has been proved that there is no check and balance in Balochistan nor any law and order.
Nevertheless, some questions arise: Has Hayat Baloch and his family gotten justice? Has that armed person got punished? Has any constitutional and institutional mechanism been built to avoid such tragedy in the future? Have things and situation got changed in Turbat? While writing this, some traditional words strike into my mind. Does Baloch really mean (Baad-roch) which means bad luck or jinx in Balochi and Persian.
