A young man who was previously subjected to enforced disappearance has been shot dead by unidentified assailants in Balochistan’s Kech district, according to local sources.
The shooting took place on Sunday morning in the Tump area, where the victim, identified as Ehsan, son of Shaukat, was reportedly attacked while at his shop.
Eyewitnesses said two armed men on a motorcycle opened fire at around 11:30 a.m., killing him on the spot. The attackers fled the scene immediately after the shooting.
According to local sources, Ehsan had earlier been forcibly disappeared by Pakistani security forces and was released after a period of disappearance.
Baloch nationalist groups and rights activists say Ehsan’s killing is part of a broader pattern in which individuals previously subjected to enforced disappearance are later targeted by state-backed armed groups.
They allege these militias—locally known as “death squads”—operate under the patronage of Pakistani intelligence agencies and the military.
Human rights organizations have previously raised concerns about alleged state-backed armed groups in Balochistan. These groups are accused of engaging in abductions, extrajudicial killings, and the intimidation of activists and political workers.
Their actions are often viewed as an extension of the state’s counter-insurgency efforts in the region, aimed at suppressing Balochistan’s independence movement.