Baloch Yakzheti Committee expresses concern over rise in enforced disappearances in Balochistan

The statement also claimed that Pakistani law enforcement agencies have increased enforced disappearances in recent times, especially in the Gwadar region. According to the BYC statement, enforced disappearances have plunged the entire Balochistan region into a cycle of trauma and suffering, causing endless suffering to the Baloch people. The increasing number of enforced disappearances and false arrests in Gwadar remains a matter of grave concern.

Rise in enforced disappearances in Gwadar is worrying:

Enforced disappearances have put the entire Balochistan region into a cycle of trauma and suffering, causing endless suffering for the Baloch people. The increasing number of enforced disappearances and fraudulent… pic.twitter.com/rCUM42YbmG

– Baloch Yakjehti Committee (@BalochYakjehtiC) 26 May 2024

Reportedly, more than 25 incidents of enforced disappearances took place recently in the Surbandhan area of ​​Gwadar district.

While some of the missing were later released, the whereabouts of Hamza's son Sameer, Rahim Bakhsh's son Mohsin, and Abdal's son Niaz remain unknown. In addition, on May 22, 2024, Muhammad Waheed and Nusrat were detained by security forces in Gwadar and forcibly disappeared, the report claimed.

Forced disappearances are the primary weapon of the Pakistani security forces to suppress the consciousness of the Balochs, which is seen as the key to suppressing the national identity of the Balochs. Therefore, BYC also demanded that the international community should play a key role in raising the voice of the Baloch community at the international level against the Pakistani administration.

Earlier, prominent Baloch leader Mehrang Balkoh in his recent statement in Oslo Norway said that “during the past two decades, in the name of counter-terrorism operations and peace, a large number of people have been forcibly disappeared by the Pakistani military”.

“The region I come from has been battling violence and militancy for the past seven decades. In the past two decades, in the name of counter-terrorism operations and peace, Pakistani security agencies have forcibly disappeared a large number of youth, mostly students, engineers, doctors, political activists and journalists.”

He further stressed that these people are being held in detention centres, tortured and their families do not know their whereabouts.

“Not for a few days, but for years, even if there are cases where the disappearances have been reported for decades. And the family had no idea if their loved one is alive or dead,” Baloch said. Mehrang Baloch stressed that this is still being practiced today by fascist states and repressive states like Pakistan.

Sharing his experience of suffering at the hands of the Pakistani administration, Baloch said, “I am a victim myself. My own father was disappeared by agents of the Pakistani state in 2009. He was killed and his bullet-riddled body was found in 2011. When I was in class 10, my results were declared on this day. That day, I found my father's body, my younger brother went missing when I was doing my graduation in medicine in 2017.

“But my case is not exceptional. There are worse cases in Balochistan. Even though there are victims and there are families who have no one left to tell their story. And even though there are villages that have been destroyed and there is no one here to tell their stories.” In his statement, he also said that there are hundreds of children, teenagers and young people whose fathers, uncles or brothers have been missing for weeks, months and in some of the worst cases, years.

“They don't know if they are alive or not. With these young people, most of whom are women, I am campaigning and putting pressure on Pakistan's Supreme Court, parliament and security forces to release the missing people or at least present them before the courts if they have committed any crime,” he said.