There live so many stories which cannot be narrated with words but captured through the lenses of the modern-day camera. And those captured photographs speak abundance of words and tell mounting stories.
Photography reminds us of peoples, places, feelings and society. A camera doesn’t lie—but it also doesn’t speak in words. That silence is what gives photography its power: the ability to say everything without a single word. Photography plays a pivotal role in today’s visually-driven society.
Like many other skills emerging from the plain mountains and warming sea of Balochistan, one is that of photography. We find numerous photographers with Kamanchar Baloch – nicknamed as Nako – topping the list in our thoughts, who used to be so connected to his photography skills.
Sarwar Ghulam Baloch is famous in the name of Kamanchar Baloch in the field of photography. He was born on November 25, 1998, in Malir Karachi, while his native town is Jaleelabad, Mand, in the district Kech of Balochistan. He belonged to a destitute family, completing his primary education in Mand, and moved to Karachi for higher education thereafter. He took admission in Beenazir Bhutto University Lyari in the department of English Literature.
Followed by great passion for his work of photography, Kamanchar left his studies and went from one area to the other with his camera and explored every corner of his homeland, Balochistan. He unveiled the untouched mountains, hills, traditions or culture of Balochistan which were never in the limelight earlier, but owing to the tireless efforts of Kamanchar, they were not only discovered to the other parts of the world, in fact, to so many Baloch as well.
So much dedicated towards his work, he did everything for his work without asking for any personal benefit to him in return from people. His efforts inspired so many individuals in the field of photography. His camera, as it is believed by plenty, held the power of a gun as he captured the pains, struggles and hard-work of every Baloch in every corner of his homeland – because he had great bond and love for his people, his mountains and his land.
Every picture, Kamanchar’s camera clicked, had deep stories related the life of Baloch and Balochistan. “Every hill, mountain, valley, sea, coastal shore, tree and river of Balochistan is attractive if you open the eyes of your heart,” he would usually utter.
Though there is silence in Kamanchar’s photographs, but they speak louder than words one could ever say. A mother’s empty hands. A window left open. The pain in an old man’s eyes. Eyes that no longer hope to be seen. In the middle of crowded protests when people mourning for the loss of their loved ones, chanting slogans. Kamanchar raised his camera and captured the shots and clicks that would define a generation.
He even held photo exhibitions in different areas of Balochistan like Turbat, Gowadar and Quetta – while the other scheduled exhibitions went disturbed owing to his untimely death. His photo exhibitions were attended by many people and his portraits were loved by everyone who visited them. The series of Photo Exhibitions was named after his homeland – Balochistan in Frames – which shows how he loved his land.
Apart from his beautiful art of photography, Kamanchar Baloch was also a very beautiful human being who supported every Baloch in anyway he could. Only in 2022, when the entire Balochistan was sinking in floods and people were losing everything they had including their lives, property and animals, Kamanchar Baloch was rescuing them on field.
Apart from his physical involvement in the campaign, he also used his camera to highlight the issue of the floods on social media. He was continuously urging people to support the grieving people of Balochistan who were in dire need of support. We will not be wrong to say that he was more than a photographer. Instead, he was a beacon of hope for the shattered families across the region.
We, as Baloch, have been unfortunate in so many ways. April 16, 2023, is the day we lost our gem. Kamanchar Baloch departed his beloved land and people this day, marking the closure of a complete lens which we would rather term “The Click of Balochistan” facing a severe disease that the medicines even could not heal either, leaving a never-healing wound and void in our hearts forever. Face fade, hands grow, hairs turn white, and laughter transforms into memories —but through the lens, they live again beautifully.
This month, it completes two full years that his camera remains frozen to capture the moments, the mourning, and the beauty of Balochistan—but his vision still remains through every photograph he left behind.
The mountains, the rivers, the sky, the streets and the kids of Kamanchar’s homeland are waiting to be captured and be caged in his camera, but unfortunately, he will not pick up his camera again with his hands to home them.
His loss is an unfilled void for us. He will be remembered through each of his click. His photographs remain, of course—framed on walls, tucked into books, lingering on screens—but the artist behind them, the soul who chased sunrises, shadows, and unspoken stories, is no longer here. His photography was no just an art—it was a memory, a presence and it was a reminder that beauty lies in unnoticed things.
Every image, he created, feels different now—more sacred, more final. We search for him in those frames, in the angles he chose, the faces he paused for, the light he loved. The lens of Kamanchar’s camera was more than just a glass; it was a window through which we saw the unnoticed stories of Balochistan—a mirror through which we saw the reflection of our homeland.
May his legacy always live among us.
