Sunday 26 December 2010

I am Jamal Baloch: Personal Testimony of An Abduction


Summary: On October 4, 2010, 17-year-old engineering student Jamal Baloch traveled to the Al-Noor Hotel in Karachi. As he pulled up to the hotel in a rickshaw, two men emerged from a silver colored, 4-door car and started to walk towards him. Jamal, fearing he would be abducted like other Baloch youth, fled.
On October 10, Jamal went to college where two policemen jumped him from behind and pushed him into a car with the help of two persons in civilian dress. In the car the men started to question Jamal, speculating that since he had been in Mand and Gwadar he should know something about the sarmachars (Baloch resistance). Jamal responded that he was a student in Karachi for the last three to four years and didn't know anything about that--he shouted and cried that he didn't know anything.
The man sitting to his left then held him tight and removed a syringe. Jamal struggled and the person on his right grabbed his neck while the other person gave him an injection. The men continued to question him regarding who and where the sarmachar in Mand and Gwadar were. Jamal started to feel drowsy. The men continued to question him while making fun of him. They threatened that if they gave him another injection, he'd go 'insane' and lose his mind. They beat him as they questioned him. They said if you don't know anything, work for us. You should work as our informant. They threatened that if he didn't work for them, they would again abduct him, torture him and give him another injection that would make him completely insane. They told him, 'You are a student, your life is in your hands now.' After torturing him for 4 to 5 hours, they dumped him at the location where they had first picked him up.
Jamal then made his way to his friend's house via rickshaw and the friend and his brother took him to Aga Khan Hospital. The doctors performed several tests. Doctors said he should be admitted to the hospital as the injection he received may cause an infection. Jamal declined, fearing the men would return.
Following this ordeal, Jamal fell ill. His left side is still numb. He feels emotionally disturbed and his memory is affected. He has trouble sleeping. "I think my life is ruined now." He feels he can't continue his studies, nor can he stay at home, nor can he go out for work. He's afraid he will be treated like the others who are abducted--tortured and dumped at roadsides. The fear is with him all the time.
Jamal Baloch's statement: I appeal to the United Nations, Amnesty International, the Arab League, the European Nation and other human rights organizations to take note: a student like me has been abducted and tortured. There are thousands of other innocent young students in Balochistan who are also missing, being brutally tortured and killed. No one is drawing attention to all these inhumane activities of the Pakistani army.

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