Zarina’s heart-wrenching words, “My husband has been missing for many years, I don’t know if I should consider myself as his wife or a widow,” mirror the pain and suffering endured by those waiting desperately for their forcibly disappeared loved ones, a fate they never chose.
Shabbir Baloch, the Central Information Secretary of the Baloch Students Organization, was forcibly disappeared by the Frontier Corps from the Gorkop area of Kech on October 4, 2016. For seven years, Shabbir’s sister Seema and wife Zarina have tirelessly protested for his recovery. They’ve held sit-ins in the red zone of Islamabad and Quetta and continued their protests in Quetta, Hub Chowki, and Karachi. Despite their relentless efforts, Shabir Baloch remains missing, and even the doors of Pakistan’s courts and human rights commissions have failed to yield answers.
In war-torn Balochistan, countless wives grapple with uncertainty, unable to determine the fate of their husbands. Sisters like Seema, Farzana, and Rukhsana have devoted years to seeking their brothers, while aging parents have left this world still waiting for their sons’ return. Enforced disappearances have cast a shadow over every corner of Balochistan, leaving no family untouched.
Pakistan’s policy of employing enforced disappearances as a tool to suppress the Baloch insurgency has given rise to a tragedy that has engulfed thousands of families. The world’s silence and the reluctance of international human rights organizations to hold Pakistan accountable for these actions are exacerbating the dire situation in Balochistan, pushing it to the brink.