It was the evening of December 6, 2024. Darkness, as always, blanketed Gilli Buleda. The southern Balochistan village gets power for one or two hours a day, if at all. The only sounds breaking the cold silence were the distant barking of dogs and the faint movements of Aisha.
A woman in her late seventies, her hair white and her face deeply wrinkled, Aisha clutched a wooden stick in one hand for support and carried a plate of daal and naan in the other. Taking small, careful steps, she made her way towards the room of her 29-year-old nephew Naveed. It was 7.30 pm. Naveed had just returned home and asked for something to eat. As she placed the plate before him, she asked, “Any news about Uzair?”
“Let me finish eating first, Amma. I’m starving. I’ll tell you everything,” Naveed replied. He had just torn a piece of naan and dipped it into the daal when his phone rang. “Okay… Are you sure?” he asked in Balochi, his tone shifting.
Recalling that evening almost three months later, Aisha said she couldn’t hear the other side of the conversation but noticed how quickly Naveed sat up.
“It’s only been ten minutes since you got home, and now you’re leaving?” Shoaib, his younger cousin, asked. “You haven’t even told us about your meeting with the colonel.”
“I’ll be back in half an hour. I’ll tell you everything then,” Naveed replied.
“But you haven’t finished your food. You said you were starving,” Aisha reminded him.
“I’ll eat when I’m back,” he said hurriedly, grabbing his keys and rushing out to his car.
Aisha sighed, put the food aside, and left his room. Shoaib, too, soon drifted off to sleep.
Car in the night
Between 8.30 and 9 pm, a gunshot-like sound broke the silence in nearby Jentari Kaor. Most residents sleep early, especially in winter. But the few in the neighbourhood who were still awake stepped outside to investigate. In the dim light, they spotted a white car with its headlights and indicator on.
Buleda is a poor, remote tehsil in Kech district, surrounded by mountains on all sides. To the west, the mountains touch the border with Iran. It is not often that a car is seen here at night, and when it is, people assume it belongs to someone powerful or perhaps a thief. Approaching such a vehicle could be risky, so most avoid it. That night, too, the onlookers hesitated. Some assumed the car had got a flat tyre, causing the noise, and chose to return to their homes.
At 6 am, a tractor driver was preparing to start his vehicle when from a distance he noticed the white car from the night before, still at the same spot. A sense of unease crept in. “This car has been here too long,” he thought. “Either it broke down, or something terrible has happened.”
As he moved closer, the tractor driver saw a man inside, his head slumped forward. When he reached the car, he realized the man was covered in blood. It was Naveed. By six-thirty, Aisha’s family was jolted awake by the devastating news – Naveed had been murdered.
Naveed carried a wallet containing his CNIC (identification card) and money, along with his mobile phone, in his pocket. When his body was found, the wallet was there but it was empty. His CNIC, mobile phone, and money were missing. He had been shot twice, both bullets piercing his head. The car was just one kilometre away from the military camp.
A meeting with the colonel
In Buleda, when someone is forcibly disappeared, their families often go to Newano Bit Camp to enquire about them. Naveed, who owned a farm, was familiar with the presence of Frontier Corps (FC) personnel from the camp because they regularly patrolled the area. He was at his farm one day when an FC subedar, whom he had encountered several times during patrols, approached. Naveed asked him if his cousin Uzair was in their custody. The subedar confirmed that Uzair was being investigated and said he would be released in two or three days. Grateful for the information, Naveed thanked him and asked for his contact number. The subedar, fluent in Balochi, shared his number.
According to Naveed’s family, he later called the subedar who put him in touch with the Buleda colonel. The colonel assured Naveed that Uzair would be released soon. As days passed, the people of Gilli gathered and decided to go to Newano Camp to demand answers. There, they were told that the colonel’s mother had passed away and that he was away. They were assured that once he returned, Uzair would be released. They went back home and waited.
On December 6, Naveed was summoned by the Buleda colonel to the camp to speak about Uzair. He went there around 3 pm, accompanied by a local resident named Shakeel. He returned home around 7.30 pm but had barely sat for 10 minutes when he received the phone call. Without finishing his meal, he left again.
