Residents of Panjgur’s Khudabadan area held a protest rally and silent walk on Wednesday to condemn the killing of 21-year-old Zeeshan Zaheer Baloch, whose bullet-riddled body was found hours after his reported abduction by a state-backed armed group.
The demonstration took place in Mowach Bazaar, where a large number of residents gathered to condemn what they described as “state terrorism” and the growing influence of death squads in the region. Protesters carried placards and banners denouncing state violence and the daily targeting of Baloch youth.
“The state and its sponsored groups have destroyed peace in Balochistan,” one speaker said, adding that fear and intimidation were spreading due to ongoing state policies.
A silent walk was also held in memory of Zeeshan Zaheer following a central call by the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC). The walk began at Mowach Chowk and proceeded to Kahoor Cemetery in Khudabadan.
Zeeshan, a member of the Baloch Yakjehti Committee’s (BYC) Panjgur Organizing Committee, was abducted on 29 June from the Football Chowk area. His body was found the next morning near Ghareeb Nawaz Hotel. He had been shot multiple times.
Zeeshan’s father, Zaheer Ahmed Baloch, was forcibly disappeared on 13 April 2015, when Zeeshan was just eleven years old. He spent his formative years protesting on the streets and calling for his father’s return.
The Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) strongly condemned the killing and held the Pakistani state “fully responsible.” BYC central leader Sammi Deen Baloch described the incident as the “height of state brutality.”
“This is a household where the head of the family has been forcibly disappeared for ten years, and now his only son, who was peacefully campaigning for his father’s recovery, has been mercilessly killed,” she said in a statement on X.
She added that under state patronage, Baloch youth are being abducted and their mutilated bodies dumped in desolate areas. “A law of the jungle prevails here, where human life, dignity and voices are being ruthlessly crushed.”
She warned that disappearances and extrajudicial killings are increasingly targeting politically active Baloch youth, and urged the public to resist what she called “institutionalized repression.”