The protest camp organized by Voice for Baloch Missing Persons (VBMP) outside the Quetta Press Club marked its 5,849th day on Thursday, highlighting the ongoing crisis of enforced disappearances in Balochistan.
The Voice for Baloch Missing Persons (VBMP) is a Baloch human rights group advocating for the safe release of thousands of Baloch missing persons and an end to enforced disappearances in Balochistan. Since its founding 15 years ago, in 2009, the group has been relentlessly protesting in Quetta and Karachi to put an end to what they call the “inhumane and barbaric practice of enforced disappearances” in Balochistan. The group has also been documenting cases of enforced disappearances and has a record of Baloch missing persons dating back a decade. Their indefinite protest marked its 5849th day on Friday.
People from various walks of life visited the camp to express solidarity with the families of the missing. Speaking to the visiting delegations, VBMP Vice Chairman Mama Qadeer Baloch said there are no signs of any reduction in enforced disappearances across Balochistan.
According to Mama Qadeer, over 100 people were forcibly disappeared in the past month alone, and more than 20 were victims of extrajudicial killings by Pakistani forces. He said the trend of custodial killings has once again intensified.
He cited the situation in Mashkay as particularly alarming, describing it as approaching a “massacre-like” state. On 11 June, two more previously disappeared persons – Ali Muhammad s/o Hakeem and Nazar s/o Jan Muhammad – were killed and their bodies dumped at a hospital.
Family members of the victims allege that both men were killed in custody at a military camp.
Mama Qadeer called on international human rights organizations to urgently intervene. “The longer the delay, the more bodies will fall, and the worse the situation will become,” he said.
The protest camp by VBMP is one of the longest-running human rights demonstrations in South Asia, demanding the recovery of thousands of missing persons allegedly taken by Pakistani security forces. The Pakistani state has consistently denied involvement in these disappearances, but rights groups and Baloch civil society continue to accuse the military and intelligence agencies of systematic abductions and killings.