The Pakistani security forces have reportedly picked up 10 people from Khuzdar, Quetta and Karachi as ‘enforced disappearances’ show no signs of slowing down. Activists and rights workers argue that much of Balochistan and Sindh is underwater, and the media is engrossed in covering the floods. The Pakistani security forces are capitalizing on the situation and ‘forcefully abducting’ more people without getting noticed.
According to recent reports, the Pakistani security forces raided a house in Balochistan’s district Khuzdar and abducted six men, including an elderly father and his four sons.
The forces reportedly carried out the raid in the Gireshg area of Khuzdar in the early hours of Tuesday. The detained men were identified as Dr Karim Baksh, Shah Muhammad and his four sons Maqsood, Naeem, Khair Baksh and Dad Karim. The forces moved the detainees to an unknown location and their condition and whereabouts remain unknown.
The incident angered the general public of Khuzdar who took to roads and blocked the main highway in protest, demanding the safe release of the six men. The protest was ended when the representatives of the Khuzdar district administration intervened and assured the protestors that their demands will be met.
The raid in Khuzdar is the second raid of this nature where the forces reportedly raided a house and picked up several of its residents. A few days ago, the forces carried out a similar, if not more blatant, raid in Mastung where they picked up 8 members of a single family. Two detainees were critically injured and succumbed to their wounds, while two others, both septuagenarians, were beaten and transferred to a hospital. The remaining detainees remain missing to this day and their condition remains unknown.
In a separate incident, the Pakistani forces allegedly picked up a man from Karachi’s Hawke’s Bay and moved him to an unknown location. The man, identified as Ali Baksh s/o Umeed Ali, a resident of Balochistan’s Awaran district, had moved to Karachi where he ran a small shop to earn a living.
His family members said the security forces, dressed in plain clothes, abducted him. The Baloch Yakjehti Committee Karachi has raised the issue of the ‘enforced disappearances’ of the Baloch people living in Karachi and other parts of Sindh. A few weeks ago, the members of BYC and families of Baloch missing persons carried out several days-long protests, demanding the authorities take immediate action against ‘enforced disappearances’ and ensure the safe release of Baloch missing persons. The protest was ended only when the representatives of the Sindh government met with the protestors and assured them that their demands will be considered. But so far, that does not appear to be the case.
In another incident, the security forces picked up a Balochistan University student from his house in Quetta’s Mekangi Road early in the morning. Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement leader Zubair Shah Agha confirmed the incident and identified the young man as Syed Ullah s/o Habib Ullah, a Pharmacy student at the University of Balochistan.
Agha said the family members of the missing student tried to lodge an FIR, but they were denied the right.