“She is conscious in a moment, and loses her courage and hope, and gets back to unconsciousness calling out Nodul,” says a family member of Nabeel on the present condition of his mother, “His father is not better: he cries and cries, thinking of how his young son would be in the state’s dark dungeons.”
Nabeel Nodh, a young Baloch poet and a fresh graduate in the department of Balochi at University of Balochistan, is the latest poster among the others facing enforced disappearances – or as locally called missing persons – detained early in the morning of March 23, 2025, at around 5 from Do Besth Panja (250) Border in the Gowadar district of Balochistan. His whereabouts have neither been disclosed nor has he been produced before a court of law until now, raising the concerns of his family, relatives and friends.
Short in size, Nabeel is famous among his friends as “Tapul” or Taapi – a name he loves because Mubrak Qazi’s mother called Qazi ‘Tapul’ when he was young. Nodh spent his early days in his village in Zarren Bugh Dasht, but when the situations worsened, all the village migrated to other places – mainly Gowadar. Nodh’s family also settled in Gowadar where they still live in. He does not like Gowadar neither does he have any good friend there. All he did there was to stay at home and meet very few friends in his vicinity. “Dasht sticks in my memories and thoughts: Gowadar does not give me the same feelings,” he would often say.
After completing his intermediate, he moves to Quetta for a BS Degree in Balochi department in the University of Balochistan. Nodh had only the Balochi department in his mind to complete his higher education in despite knowing how ‘scope-less’ it is. “I know it is hard to get a job with Balochi, but nothing other than the mother language hits my heart,” he said when he submitted his forms in the Balochi department.
There are only few characters Nodh respects from his heart: Mubarak Qazi, Munir Momin and AR Dad are among his favorites – in literature. He learnt his poetic sense from Qazi and Munir, while truly admires Dad for his works and studies. “I, and all the nation, admire Mubarak Qazi because of his techniques in literature to convey his message to the nation in easy words: Munir is a living poet whose poetry will make sense even after hundreds of years: and Dad studies a lot – he knows what and how to use the literature,” were his words whenever it was a critic on Dad, or a comparison between Munir and Qazi. “Everyone has their own role in the history and literature: we cannot compare one with the other and conclude out a best,” he would end the argument.
Nodh is very hard to win in arguments. No matter if he is right or not, he will never let himself down until it is someone who he admires a lot in the opposite. Sometimes when he knows he has more weighage in his words, he does not see who the next person is and continues to give one after one logic. “I know I am not that much knowledgeable but I can win arguments,” he would say when he knew his words weighed higher.
Nodh’s forced disappearance has left everyone mourning. He was close to all. Sometimes when he received phone calls, he did not know who it was at the other end and kept talking as if he knew him for years. “Who was (s)he Nodh?” we would often inquire. “I promise I did not know who he was,” he would say and we would all laugh.
One day, when we were sitting in the room, he had someone with him. When they came in the room, we asked Nodh to introduce him. He felt so uncomfortable, and looked at him and said, “He is not a kid; he will himself do it.” Then the person told his name, while Nodh himself asked the rest question like where he was from, what he was studying and where he was staying. After he went, he came and said it was the first time he was meeting that person. “I was shocked what to say when you said to introduce him,” he would laugh at himself. So did we.
To simply put, Nodh, our friend, is very clean-hearted. He never bothers anyone. He would do all his work himself. If anyone, whether he knows or not, asks him for a favor, he would do that so willingly and responsibly. He is not two-faceted nor does he like two-faceted people. He is a poet. A beginner. He is a simple and ordinary Baloch. His disappearance has left all those – whether they met him firsthand or only knew him through social media – in despair. He deserves to be out of torture cells – like every other Baloch in the same cells.
