Pakistan’s Balochistan province is reeling from fresh claims of state-sponsored abductions, with five civilians reportedly vanishing at the hands of security forces. Advocacy groups warn of a rising tide of forced disappearances and summary executions, deepening the humanitarian quagmire in this troubled region.
Paank, affiliated with the Baloch National Movement, documented the February 21 pickup of Ghulam Sarwar, a 33-year-old laborer, by army and intel units in Hub’s Abdullah Bijarani Goth. On February 19, student Amir Baloch, 24, was taken from Chagai’s Killi Kasum Khan, his fate unknown.
Awaran saw its own nightmare on February 18, when soldiers stormed a residence in Kuhado Jahu, dragging off brothers Sadullah and Lal Jan. These nighttime operations terrorize communities, stripping away any sense of safety.
From Karachi, Baloch Voice for Justice (BVJ) raised alarms over Daniyal Nasir’s February 16 disappearance. A Governance and Public Policy alum from a top university, Nasir embodies the youth being systematically targeted, BVJ claims, to crush dissent and aspiration.
BVJ’s statement was unequivocal: Enforced disappearances mock justice and humanity. Immediate action – releases or trials – is non-negotiable, with families’ pleas for truth growing louder by the day.
Separate violence erupted near Ful Abad, where forces fired on a car with Afghan passengers heading to Iran, killing two women and injuring three. Others were rounded up on site. Hospitals treated the survivors amid chaotic scenes.
As these stories unfold, rights bodies spotlight the relentless pattern of vanishings, wrongful arrests, and deaths in custody. Balochistan’s crisis demands urgent intervention, with activists urging global pressure on Pakistan to uphold human rights and break the silence.