Balochistan: A person has been disappeared on the International Day of Disappeared.
Security forces are accused by a family for enforced disappearance of a man from Mand.
According to details received by The Balochistan Post, while the world observed The International Day of Disappeared, a family in the Mand had to suffer it in true sense as a man was arrested and subsequently taken to an undisclosed location in a raid on a house in Mand area of Balochistan. The family alleged he was ‘abducted by Pakistani forces’.
The abductee is identified as Fida s/o Mehmood, resident of Gobard Mand.
According to local reports, while few dozen people have returned homes in last few days, others have gone missing.
Former Chief Minister of Balochistan, currently member of Pakistan’s National Assembly and president of Balochistan National Party, Akhter Mengal also expressed his concerns over the disappearances in a tweet: “On #EnforcedDisappearancesDay I pray that the lost return home. My family has been waiting for 40 years and like my family there are many more. After my agreement many missing persons have been released HOWEVER many have been abducted as well – this wasn’t part of the agreement”.
The term ‘missing persons’ is widely used in Balochistan to connote arrests made by security forces as the arrested are not presented before court of law and instead kept under incommunicado detention in military camps.
On International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances The International Human Rights Council, Hong Kong (IHRC-HK) has expressed concern over enforced disappearance in Pakistan and called upon the state institutions to play an active role in the recovery of all the missing persons.