Five students are among the six youth ‘forcibly disappeared’ from different areas of Balochistan, allegedly by the Pakistani law enforcement forces.
The Pakistani security forces reportedly raided a hostel in Quetta’s Sariyab where they beat up four students before detaining them. One of the students was identified as Muhammad Ameen s/o Mumtaz Hassan, a resident of Soorab, while the remaining three are yet to be identified.
In Turbat, the forces reportedly detained first-year student Yousaf Nisar on August 11 when he was coming home after a football match on the nearby ground. A convoy of six vehicles cut his way, and he was forcibly detained.
Family members of Yousaf Nisar said that if he is guilty of a crime, he should be presented in court and prosecuted as per the law.
The Pakistani forces also detained a man named Habib s/o Muhammad Azam from the Qadirabad area of Noshki and moved him to an undisclosed location. His whereabouts and condition remain unknown.
It is pertinent to mention that the “enforced disappearances” are a major human rights issue in Balochistan. Activists, political workers and rights groups argue that the Pakistani security forces “abduct” people on flimsy and baseless charges and throw them in jails. These people, known as the “missing persons”, are barred from legal representation and kept incommunicado for months or even years. A handful are released and find their way back home, but the majority languish in prisons for the rest of their lives. The people who return home suffering from a motley of psychological disorders, like ADHD, PTSD and depression, which significantly inhibit their ability to live a normal life.
In another development, three missing persons were safely released and returned to their homes. They were identified as Qasim Baloch and Hassam Baloch, who were picked up from Panjgoor, and Bilal Baloch, a resident of Khuzdar was detained and handed over to the CTD in 2021.