Who was Mama Qadeer Baloch?

Baloch human rights activist Abdul Qadeer Baloch, better known as Mama Qadeer, passed away on Saturday following a prolonged illness.

A large number of people from different walks of life joined his funeral including rights activists, political figures and people who had followed his struggle for years.

It should be noted that Mama Qadeer was also the vice chairman of the Voice for Baloch Missing Persons (VBMP), an organization that became central to the movement against enforced disappearances in Balochistan.

Understanding Mama Qadeer Baloch’s struggle

Prior to becoming a name in the limelight, Abdul Qadeer Baloch had a simple life as a bank employee.

His life took a drastic turn in the year 2009. His son, Jalil Reki Baloch, was forcibly disappeared for some time, resulting in his death. Losing his son made him an ardent social activist. Using his personal tragedy as a motivation for urging others to protest, he decided to help affected families by giving them strength through the VBMP.

But even after his son’s body was retrieved, Mama Qadeer refused to step back. He continued to ask for answers regarding accountability and the return of missing persons.

HRCP expresses deep sorrow at the passing of human rights defender Mama Abdul Qadeer, who, after the abduction and killing of his son in 2009, initiated a campaign against enforced disappearances. The founder of @VBMP5, it was Mama who led a historic long march from Quetta to…

— Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (@HRCP87) December 20, 2025

Almost for the last 16 years, he has been organizing hunger strike camps in cities such as Quetta and Karachi, in order to keep the situation of enforced disappearances in the limelight despite immense pressure, illness, and adverse conditions.

One of the defining instances of his activism would be in the year 2013, when he and Farzana Majeed Baloch, the sister of the missing student leader Zakir Majeed Baloch, led a historic march. The march, which consisted of walking over 3,000 kilometers from the city of Quetta to the city of Karachi and then Islamabad, brought a lot of national and international focus to the cases of enforced disappearances, extrajudicial killings, and human rights abuses in Balochistan.

Mama Qadeer has also spread awareness outside of Pakistan, traveling to America, Europe, and Geneva in order to meet with international human rights agencies in efforts to gain global attention towards Balochistan.