'Balochistan?' was my first reaction. This ethnic group, split between Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan seeks autonomy - against all odds and media silence.
You will read about nasty border guards and an 18-year-old escaping by a jump out of a second-floor window.
Meet a journalist, 25 and a theatre playwright, 18.
‘Walid’, 25, is a Balochi political journalist from Karachi, a region crossing Pakistan, Iran, Afghanistan. To protect his family, he asked me to not use his real name or a photo.
Balochistan was briefly independent in 1947 after British rule. Similar to Kurdish people they seek independence but are persecuted in Pakistan as ‘terrorists’. About 20,000 people are feared dead, and some are found with gruesome signs of torture, such as drilled out eyes. He is part of the forbidden Balochi party and proudly showed me his party ID (issued in Germany). The party president is now in Switzerland – many are in Germany.
Walid speaks Baloch, English, Urdu, and Farsi – and offered to help translate should I need it.
He attended school in Pakistan for 12 years and then trained with his uncle at the newspaper TOWER. He worked himself up from office boy to typist to journalist on both Pakistani and Balochi issues. But about 5-7 years ago political tensions escalated and he changed to a different paper, shortly after his uncle closed his paper since "it was too dangerous". In 2016 the secret police threatened the chief editor and later burnt his newspaper’s office. The bodies of two coworkers were found with smashed bones and acid-burnt faces. "There were protests but this news never makes it into the media,” he said while looking for protest pictures on his phone.
Scared for his life he left on November 6 with six cousins and joined a large group of men to travel overland mostly by van for 12 weeks. Iranian smugglers crossed the Turkish border with them, but gave them no food.
He paid a total of US $3,000. I asked how he could safely carry so much money. “The way it works, you call friends or family at home to arrange pay through a bank.”
He arrived in Moria in January 2017. He does not feel safe, there are many fights and thefts. He is afraid the secret police may use other Pakistanis to infiltrate Moria.
He contacts his parents in Karachi as little as possible, afraid police may trace him or harm his family.
Walid is a secular Muslim and does not approve of religion being used for politics.
On US politics even though they affect him negatively, he says: “If America wants to keep terrorists out they are good. They want to protect their country because they love it”
He met an Iranian fellow-Balochi in Moria, and the common hardship welded their friendship. Walid introduced me to his friend. I should hear ‘Ismail’s’ harrowing story. We sat down for a strong Espresso at the center’s café section.
‘Ismail’
is an 18 year old actor and playwright from Iran near the Afghan border. After performing a play critical of the Balochi situation he was arrested. With difficulty his father managed to get him released. Ismail feared he would be re-arrested and hanged as happened to other Balochis and decided to leave.
Ismail drove with smugglers and a group of 40 men to the Turkish border near Urmia. They were sleeping in the mountains for 2 days without food, then continued another 4 days to Istanbul.
In Istanbul, 6 Pakistanis and 1 Afghani offered to help him get to Athens. When he went to their place, they overwhelmed him, handcuffed and forced him to call his parents for a $40,000 ransom. When the money did not arrive after 2 days they threatened to kill him.
Luckily, the kidnappers drank that evening and left the key to the handcuffs on the table that night. In the early morning hours Ismail was able to quietly unlock them under a blanket, then jumped out of a 2nd floor window.
He ran to a mosque to call the police and returned with them to the apartment. The kidnappers had already removed all evidence and denied to know him.
But Ismail saw his phone, snatched it and proved they were lying. While the police arrested 3 of them Ismail called his mother who could not talk for tears.
He befriended another refugee and made it to Izmir after first being kicked off the bus for not having papers. In Izmir they were arrested with a group of Syrians but eventually let go. To find a boat, smugglers sent them to Hotel Ankara, then to a taxi driver. After 2 more days a group of 8 set out to Samos. The coast guard scared them back to the smugglers who were so angry, they threw people into the water. Ismail gave his life jacket to someone who could not swim, and they all reached the (Turkish) coast.
After 3 more attempts the smugglers gave the 2 friends different departure points, and he got grouped with many Syrian families.
Instead of the expected speedboat, the smugglers brought a rubber boat without life jackets. The small 4-5 meter boat had 45 terrified people on it. Barely off the coast they were caught and rescued by Turkish police.
In the interrogation he pretended to be with the Syrians. After the police fed them, they were fingerprinted and released. He said, "The police were good to the Syrians but bad to others. 3 guys from Congo in the group were arrested." On the next try they had to carry the boat through brush to the coast, but one guy stumbled and the boat got punctured. After another day without food the smugglers returned the following night with the patched boat. Now on this 7th attempt, Ismail with 30-35 people made it into Greek waters where the Greek navy rescued them and brought them to Mitilini. That was 6 weeks ago. (We talked on July 13). Ismail knows Baloch party members in Sweden and hopes to join them.
I could see how talking to me brought back the traumatic memories of merely two months ago. Ismail certainly seemed much more mature than any 18-year-old I know.
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