Noroz Hayat

Noroz Khan, better known by his pen name Noroz Hayat, was born on 1 February 1989 in Khairabad village, Kech District, Balochistan, Pakistan. He received a BA in Balochi, Sociology and Political Science from the Atta Shad Degree College in Turbat in 2010, and an MA in Social Work from the University of Karachi in 2013.

During his college years, Noroz became a member of the Baloch Students Organization (BSO). (242) During this time he became increasingly interested in human rights and in recent years he has been active in the Human Rights Council of Balochistan. (243)

In Karachi, Noroz worked as a member of the executive committee of the Sayad Hashmi Reference Library. Between 2014 and 2015 he worked as a programme associate at Health and Nutrition Development Society (HANDS), based in Karachi. (244) In 2015 Noroz left Pakistan for the USA, and he currently lives in Connecticut. In 2021 he joined the Balochi Language Project as a text editor. (245)

Since arriving in the USA, Noroz has written on social, political and human rights issues, in both Balochi and English, with his writings mainly being published in two web-based magazines, Balochistan Times (246) and Balochistan Affairs. (247) He also writes short stories where common themes are the struggles of life in exile, alienation and nostalgia.

This attachment to a homeland is also the theme of the story published here, Haw Máti, Tai Bacch Kóhestáná Ent (Yes, Dear Mother, Your Son is Back in the Mountains), which tells of a person who is spending his life far from his native land, and who constantly longs to return. It is inspired by the life story of Sajid Hussain, who was forced into exile a few years before Noroz Hayat. But the story could also be that of anyone who has left his or her homeland, be it in search of a career, a decent livelihood, a safe haven from oppression, torture and war, or for any other reason, and who constantly longs to return to “the Mountains,” the place where he or she truly belongs.