With each passing day, protest sit-ins are increasing in Balochistan for the recovery of forcibly disappeared persons. The relatives of the forcibly disappeared from Bulaida are staging a protest for the second time in front of the Deputy Commissioner’s office in Turbat. Additionally, the most important highway of Quetta, Sariab Road, has been blocked for six days, where the family of Zaheer Baloch is observing a protest for his recovery.
The courts of Pakistan have failed to provide justice. The case of the recovery of Baloch students has been heard in the Islamabad High Court for two years, yet the forcibly disappeared students have not been recovered, while forced disappearances of students from Punjab are still ongoing.
Anees Baloch, a student of Bahauddin Zakaria University, has been taken into police custody after his enforced disappearance, but his family and lawyers are not being given access to him. Despite fulfilling legal requirements, state institutions’ disregard for court orders has eroded people’s confidence in the judiciary and administration, making protest the only way to seek the recovery of the forcibly disappeared.
Instead of addressing the serious issue of enforced disappearances, the ministers of the controversial government of Balochistan are linking these disappearances to the armed struggle through their statements, which is contrary to the facts. If this attitude of the controversial government continues, then in the near future, protests and sit-ins by the relatives of the forcibly disappeared will continue on a large scale throughout Balochistan.