In Balochistan, scarcely a day passes without those suffering under state repression facing a new tragedy. The story of Zeeshan Zaheer, a resident of Panjgur, is the latest chapter in this seemingly unending catastrophe. Zeeshan’s father, Zaheer Baloch, was forcibly disappeared on 13 April 2015, at a time when Zeeshan was merely eleven years old. He spent the most formative years of his life, from childhood to youth, protesting on the streets and raising his voice for his father’s safe return. Then, on 29 June 2025, Zeeshan himself was abducted from the Khudabadan area of Panjgur by a state-backed death squad, and the following morning, his bullet-riddled body was dumped.
Zeeshan and his family had repeatedly received serious threats due to their refusal to remain silent in the face of state oppression and their continued resistance. In Balochistan, there are ongoing and organised efforts to silence those who speak out against enforced disappearances, collective punishment tactics, and unconstitutional state violence, whether through threats, disappearances, or the return of corpses.
In recent months, there has been a noticeable increase in the extrajudicial killing of forcibly disappeared individuals while in state custody across various regions of Balochistan. On 28 June, three young men were killed in a staged encounter in Dukki district, despite having been in the custody of state institutions for an extended period. They were identified as Wazir Khan Sehlani, son of Rehan (disappeared for eight months), Sohbat Khan, son of Khamees (disappeared for two months), and Ali, son of Wazir Ahmad Dengnani Buzdar (disappeared for eleven months). This was the second such staged encounter in the Dukki district during June, in which disappeared individuals were killed and falsely accused of armed resistance.
The murder of Zeeshan Zaheer is part of the ongoing human tragedy in Balochistan, where not just individuals but the collective resistance of an entire society is being targeted. The families of the disappeared suffer a double anguish: on one hand, they endure the grief of their loved ones’ absence, and on the other, they face the wrath of the state in retaliation for demanding justice.