A year ago, on the night of November 23, Wadood Baloch, Balach Baloch, Saif Baloch, and Shakoor Baloch—who had been forcibly disappeared from various areas of Panjgur and Kech and were under the custody of police and the military—were extra-judicially killed in the mountains of Pasni. The Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) of the Balochistan Police claimed they were killed in a staged encounter. Balach Baloch, one of those killed, had already been in police custody under judicial remand and was undergoing trial in court.
The Pakistani military has long pursued a policy of suppressing the Baloch independence movement by executing individuals already forcibly disappeared after attacks by armed Baloch groups result in military casualties. Frequently, these fabricated encounters result in the killing of individuals whose cases are pending in Pakistani courts and whose enforced disappearances have been documented by human rights organisations.
The aim of these policies is to crush the Baloch nationalist movement through coercion. However, the extra-judicial killing of Balach Baloch sparked a powerful resistance movement against state oppression. This political movement marched from Turbat to Islamabad, protesting enforced disappearances and extra-judicial killings. It mobilised Baloch communities worldwide, transforming resistance into a collective and national effort, as seen in events such as the mass protest in Quetta and the Gwadar “Raaji Muchi” demonstrations.
One year after Balach Baloch’s extra-judicial killing, thousands gathered at Turbat’s Fida Shaheed Chowk under the banner of the Baloch Yakjehti Committee to commemorate his memory. This assembly aimed to organise and unify the Baloch against the state’s genocidal policies. It is evident that efforts to suppress the Baloch national movement through state violence are failing, and political resistance will persist until state repression ends.