Pakistani forces have allegedly forcibly disappeared Professor Shafiq Zehri from Hub Chowki, in what rights activists describe as the latest case in a continuing pattern of targeting the families of political activists in Balochistan.
Local sources said Professor Zehri was detained on Wednesday afternoon from the Civic Centre area of Hub Chowki by personnel of Pakistani security and intelligence agencies and transferred to an undisclosed location. His whereabouts remain unknown.
Professor Zehri is the father of Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) activist Mahzaib Baloch and the elder brother of Rashid Hussain, a Baloch activist who has remained forcibly disappeared since 2018.
Family members said Professor Zehri teaches political science at Degree College in Hub and had previously been subjected to enforced disappearance in 2013, before later being released.
Rashid Hussain had been living in self-exile in the United Arab Emirates since 2017. According to his family, he was detained near Sharjah by UAE secret police on 26 December 2018 and held in secret detention for several months before being extradited to Pakistan in June 2019 under what they describe as questionable circumstances. His family says his whereabouts have remained unknown since then.
Mahzaib Baloch has been actively participating in protests organized by the BYC in Karachi, Islamabad and Hub, demanding the recovery of forcibly disappeared persons in Balochistan, including her uncle. Rights groups say she has previously been detained multiple times in connection with her activism.
In a post on X, Baloch activist and BYC leader Dr Sabiha Baloch described Shafiq Zehri’s disappearance as “deeply alarming”, saying he was taken without any legal procedure.
“Shafiq is the father of a young activist who has been publicly demanding justice for her uncle,” she said, adding that the case pointed to “collective punishment”, where family members are targeted to silence those seeking accountability.
Dr Sabiha said the impunity enjoyed by state agencies allowed such practices to continue unchecked, warning that enforced disappearances violated fundamental rights and undermined the rule of law.
She called on authorities to disclose Shafiq Zehri’s whereabouts, ensure his safety, and end what she described as “collective punishment” and enforced disappearances.
It is important to note that Dr Sabiha Baloch’s own father, Mir Bashir Ahmed, was allegedly forcibly disappeared by Pakistani intelligence agencies in April this year and later released after several months in secret detention, a case widely cited as evidence of reprisals against family members of outspoken Baloch activists.