Student leader Feroz Baloch went missing in May 2019, and after a year and 8 months of detention, he has finally returned home.
As per reports, Feroz Baloch, former vice-chairman of the Baloch Students Actions Committee (BSAC), was recovered in district Noshki on Thursday.
He had been reportedly detained by armed men in Kalat while he was on a journey to Panjgoor. He was kept incommunicado for more than a year, and the hopes of his safe return had almost died down. But in an almost miraculous development, he somehow safely returned home. The details of his return are not yet clear.
Another Baloch missing person also returned home in Panjgoor after more than a year of confinement. Saleem Salman s/o Khuda Dad went missing in May 2019, a few days before Feroz Baloch – both were detained in the same month and released on the same day.
The Voice for Baloch Missing Person, a rights group advocating for the safe recovery of Baloch missing persons, confirmed the news, saying that it had provided the details of missing Saleem Baloch to the government.
The VBMP said that the recovery of Baloch missing persons is a positive step and appealed to the government to ensure the safe release of the thousands of other missing persons.
It is pertinent to mention that the recoveries of Baloch missing persons have seen a surge in the past few days. More than 20 individuals have been released some of whom had been missing for more than 5 years. These releases, though quite massively approved among many circles, have also raised some eyebrows. Many claim that by these sporadic releases, the authorities are trying to assuage the resentment that aroused as a consequence of activist Karima Baloch’s death and then her heavily restricted funeral in the presence of the Pakistani security forces.