Pakistan forces forcibly disappear six civilians in Balochistan

Quetta, July 24 (AHN) Several leading human rights organisations on Friday strongly condemned the enforced disappearance of six civilians, including women and children, by Pakistani forces in Balochistan.

Citing the victims’ family, Paank, the Baloch National Movement's Human Rights Department, said that more than 20 Pakistan Frontier Corps (FC) vehicles carrying around 60 personnel, accompanied by three masked individuals in civilian clothes, raided their home in the Killi Kongarh area in Mastung district on July 21.

The rights body noted that the security personnel damaged household property under the pretext of conducting a search operation before taking all six individuals into custody. Since then, it said their whereabouts remain unknown, and no official information has been provided to the family.

The victims were identified as 33-year-old Bibi Rafia, her three young children aged 3 months, 4 years, and 6 years, her 40-year-old brother Muhammad Arif, and her 18-year-old niece Bibi Nida.

Criticising the incident, Paank said, “Enforced disappearance is a serious violation of international human rights law and places those detained outside the protection of the law, exposing them to an increased risk of torture and other ill-treatment.”

Expressing grave concern over the continued pattern of enforced disappearances, especially targeting Baloch women, the Baloch Voice for Justice (BVJ) said, “Women have reportedly been subjected to torture in secret detention, while some have allegedly been forced at gunpoint to participate in scripted press conferences in which they are presented as suicide bombers.”

The BVJ urged UN Women and other global human rights mechanisms to urgently take notice of these cases and take immediate action to protect Baloch women and children. It also called on the Pakistani authorities to disclose the whereabouts of all disappeared persons, ensure their safety, and uphold their obligations under international human rights law.

Meanwhile, Sammi Deen Baloch, a member of the human rights organisation Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC), said that Balochistan has reached a stage where people are forced to bury the dead almost every day. She said that the violence no longer distinguishes between ordinary civilians and those entrusted with upholding the law, adding that even judges have now become targets in the province.

Taking to her social media platform X, Sammi said, “The daylight killing of Sessions Judge Abdul Hakeem Kakar is not merely a cause for alarm. It is a devastating indictment of the lawlessness engulfing Balochistan and the profound insecurity faced by its people.”

“Meanwhile, the Balochistan government appears consumed by a single task: going on television to claim that the state’s writ has been restored and that ‘the situation is normal,’ and busy in their crackdown against peaceful activism and dissents. But the government has failed to protect its people. Beyond this carefully constructed narrative, it has little to show,” she added.