The father of Dr Sabiha Baloch, a central leader of the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC), has returned home after being forcibly disappeared by Pakistani intelligence agencies earlier this year, Dr Baloch confirmed on Saturday.
Mir Bashir Ahmed was taken into custody on 5 April. According to family members, intelligence officials threatened to kill him and forcibly disappear other relatives unless Dr Sabiha Baloch surrendered herself or resigned from the BYC. Their home was also raided in July.
Shortly after his disappearance, a group of United Nations Special Rapporteurs issued a joint statement expressing concern over the treatment of Dr Baloch and her family. The UN experts said they were “deeply concerned” by reports of her father’s enforced disappearance and warned that Dr Baloch herself could face imminent arrest for her political and human rights work.
“My father, who was forcibly disappeared on April 5, has returned home safely today,” Dr Baloch wrote in a post on X. “Although I cannot meet him, knowing that he is safe is enough for me.”
She described the ordeal as collective punishment, stating, “This is the worst kind of repression, when the enforced disappearance of a single person inflicts torment not only on that individual but on the entire family. I have felt this pain long before it reached my own doorstep. It was this pain that did not allow me to remain silent. Had I stayed quiet, this anguish would have consumed me from within.”
Dr Baloch thanked those who stood by her family, adding, “My heartfelt prayer is that all forcibly disappeared persons return safely to their homes.”
She called for an end to enforced disappearances, describing them as “the most extreme form of collective punishment” and an “outright criminal act.” Dr Baloch emphasized, “The struggle against enforced disappearances is constitutional and legal. Continuing this struggle is a human duty for all of us.”
Meanwhile, three other forcibly disappeared individuals have also reappeared in recent days, according to families and legal representatives.
Muslim Dad Baloch, a philosophy student at the University of Karachi, was released after being detained on 27 July from outside the university’s Maskan Gate. His family confirmed his safe return.
Musa, son of Mir Gul Mari, who was disappeared from Turbat’s Fish Market, also returned home safely, his family said.
Hakeem Baloch, a law student and practicing lawyer, reappeared after being detained during a Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) raid near Brewery Road in Quetta on the night of 23–24 July. According to a CTD notification, Hakeem has been detained for one month under Section 11-EEEE of the Anti-Terrorism Act.
The CTD alleged that Hakeem Baloch is affiliated with the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), but no formal charges have yet been presented in court. He has also not been permitted to meet his family since his reappearance.
The Balochistan Bar Council, which had publicly protested his disappearance, confirmed that Hakeem Baloch is in custody and urged authorities to ensure legal due process.