Two Baloch women are among at least three people reported missing after being taken into custody by Pakistani security forces in separate incidents in the districts of Khuzdar and Hub Chowki, according to families and rights groups.
In Khuzdar district, local sources said a man identified as Naveed s/o Ramzan Qambarani was detained by Pakistani forces on 13 December from the Naal area and subsequently moved to an undisclosed location. His family says there has been no information regarding his whereabouts since his arrest.
Separately, the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) reported that two Baloch women were forcibly disappeared during an overnight raid in Hub Chowki. The group said the women – identified as Hani Dilwash, 27, who is reportedly eight months pregnant, and Khair-un-Nisa Wahid, 17 – were taken from the Gangee Goth area near Daroo Hotel at around 3:00 am on Saturday and transferred to an unknown location. According to BYC, both women are residents of the Singabad Karki area of Tejaban in Kech district.
Family members of the women told media outlets that Pakistani forces raided a house in the area in the early hours of Saturday and detained the two without providing any arrest warrants or information about their destination. Relatives said repeated attempts to obtain details from authorities had so far been unsuccessful.
BYC said the incident forms part of a wider pattern of enforced disappearances in Balochistan, noting that several women have reportedly gone missing from the Hub area in recent weeks. The organisation claims that at least eight Baloch women have reportedly been disappeared so far this year, none of whom have been recovered.
Following the reports of disappearance, Pakistani security forces and state-aligned media outlets put forward a different account, asserting that the women detained in Hub were arrested during a counterterrorism operation. According to force officials, one of the women, Khair-un-Nisa, was allegedly involved in planning a suicide attack, while Hani Dilwash was described as a facilitator. Officials also claimed that a third alleged facilitator, identified as Fareed, was arrested from the Tejaban area of Kech district.
Security authorities have confirmed that a raid was conducted near Daroo Hotel in Hub Chowki and that two women were taken into custody. However, they have not disclosed the current whereabouts of the detainees, nor clarified whether they have been formally charged or produced before a court.
The latest incidents come amid renewed concern from rights groups over a reported rise in cases involving missing women in Balochistan. In recent weeks, local sources say a 27-year-old woman named Hazra was detained from the same Hub area along with her two-year-old son Brahumdagh, while a 15-year-old girl, Nasreen Baloch, was reportedly taken into custody in November and remains unaccounted for.