A man has gone missing after being taken into custody during an operation carried out by Pakistani armed forces in the Panjgur district of Balochistan on Friday, local residents said.
Residents of Gawargo Fateh Ali said that Pakistani forces cordoned off the area, conducted house-to-house searches and seized valuable items, including motorcycles, from several homes. They said that one man, identified as Naimatullah, son of Badal, was detained during the operation and has not been seen since.
Family members said they have received no information about his whereabouts and that his name has not appeared on any official detention record. They called on authorities to either produce him before a court or disclose his location.
Meanwhile in Quetta, the protest camp of the Voice for Baloch Missing Persons (VBMP), widely regarded as one of the world’s longest continuous human rights demonstrations, completed 6,040 days outside the Quetta Press Club on Sunday.
Relatives of missing persons, including the families of Lal Muhammad Marri and Kaleemullah Marri, attended the protest and submitted updated details of their cases to the organization.
They said that both men were forcibly taken by Pakistani forces in 2015 during a search operation in the Nagaho area, where residents were held for three days. On the third day, Lal Muhammad, son of Agha Jan alias Pull Khan, and Kaleemullah, son of Syed Khan, were taken away in a helicopter.
The families said they had approached multiple officials and travelled to various locations since 2015 but had received no information about the men’s fate. They described the years of uncertainty as “severe anguish” that has left their lives “paralysed”.
VBMP Chairman Nasrullah Baloch said the organization would refer the cases to the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances as well as the provincial government, adding that “every forum will be approached for the men’s recovery”.
He urged the government to ensure the safe return of both men “so that their families may be freed from a lifetime of suffering”.