Rights Groups Report Surge in Balochistan Enforced Disappearances

Human rights organizations have reported a wave of enforced disappearances by Pakistani security forces and intelligence agencies across Balochistan. Paank, the human rights wing of the Baloch National Movement, documented the disappearances of four men: Nasir Baloch in Quetta on March 27, Atiq Khetran in Barkhan on July 21, Meeran Baloch in Quetta on July 23, and Arif in Gwadar on July 24. Paank alleges the Counter Terrorism Department of Pakistan and Military Intelligence were responsible and demands the Government of Pakistan produce the men before civilian courts.

Additional reports from the Baloch Yakjehti Committee identify the Inter-Services Intelligence and Counter Terrorism Department of Pakistan as the abductors of 15-year-old Aziz Baloch in Quetta on July 23. The committee further alleges the Frontier Corps and the Military of Pakistan abducted laborers Khalil Ahmed and Gull Muhammad from Nigar, Surab, on July 12.

The Baloch Women Forum condemned a July 21 raid in the Killi Kongarh area of Mastung, where security forces allegedly abducted six members of a single family, including a mother and three young children. The forum characterized these actions as a "policy of coercion" and emphasized the psychological crisis caused by the disappearance of mothers and infants.