The bodies of five individuals have been recovered from Quetta and Awaran districts of Balochistan, with all five confirmed as forcibly disappeared persons. The discovery has once again raised serious concerns about enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings in the region.
According to reports, four bodies were found in Shaban, on the outskirts of Quetta, while another was recovered from Awaran within 24 hours. Authorities transported them to a hospital for identification.
Among the bodies recovered from Shaban, three have been identified as Hafiz Mohammad Tahir, son of Mohammad Akbar Baloch, Zubair Ahmed, son of Abdul Samad, and Shahzaib Baloch, son of Rehmatullah Baloch. All three individuals were allegedly forcibly disappeared by Pakistani forces in December 2024 and early January 2025. Hafiz Mohammad Tahir and Zubair Ahmed were abducted from the Gidar area of Surab district in December 2024, while Shahzaib Baloch was forcibly disappeared from Kharotabad, Quetta, on January 2, 2025.
The remaining body found in Shaban has been identified as Naeem Ud Din Baloch, son of Noor ud Din Baloch, a resident of Dasht, Mastung, who was reportedly forcibly disappeared from Lehri Gate, Quetta, on January 7, 2025.
Similarly, the body found in Awaran was identified as Hameedullah Baloch, a resident of Khuzdar who was allegedly detained by Pakistani forces on December 15, 2024.
Pakistani authorities have claimed that all five individuals were militants who were killed in encounters with security forces. However, their families and local activists insist that these individuals were forcibly disappeared long before their deaths. The families of the victims, alongside the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC), have condemned these killings as extrajudicial executions. They argue that the victims were falsely branded as militants by the state to justify their deaths in staged encounters.
The issue of enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings in Balochistan has been a persistent concern for human rights organizations and local activists. Groups such as Amnesty International and the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) have documented similar cases where missing persons later turned up dead in circumstances suggesting that they were killed by state forces in fake encounters.
The Baloch Yakjehti Committee has condemned these killings as part of an ongoing campaign of ethnic cleansing targeting the Baloch people. They stress that this is not an isolated incident, as many Baloch individuals have been abducted and later found dead with bullet wounds. These acts, they argue, are part of the ongoing genocide of the Baloch nation.
In response to these deaths, the Baloch Yakjehti Committee has called for urgent action from the international community to stop these killings and hold the responsible parties accountable. Despite the widespread protests and sit-ins staged by the families of the victims, there has been little official investigation or accountability for these crimes.