The M-8 CPEC highway in Turbat, district Kech, remained blocked for a third consecutive day on Thursday as families continued their sit-in protest against the alleged enforced disappearance of four members of the same family.
The demonstration, which began earlier this week at Karki Tejaban and later extended to Heronk, has suspended two-way traffic between Turbat, Hoshap, Awaran, Kolwah, Panjgur and Quetta. Long queues of passenger vehicles and goods transport trucks remained stranded on both sides of the route.
According to the protesting families, the four individuals were allegedly detained by Pakistani armed forces in recent days from Hub Chowki and Kech, where they had been residing. Those reported missing include 27-year-old Hani Dilwash, who is eight months pregnant; 17-year-old Hairnisa; 18-year-old Mujahid Dilwash; and 18-year-old Fareed Ijaz.
Late on Tuesday night, a negotiating team led by Assistant Commissioner Turbat, Muhammad Hanif Kabzai, arrived at the protest site on the instructions of Deputy Commissioner Kech, Basheer Ahmed Barech. Family members said no breakthrough was achieved and that the sit-in would continue until all four individuals are safely released.
The road closure has severely affected the movement of passenger and commercial vehicles, prompting calls from protesters for immediate intervention by senior authorities.
Meanwhile, the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) has launched a parallel five-day protest campaign across Balochistan in solidarity with the families and in response to what it describes as a rising number of enforced disappearances of Baloch women across the region.
In a statement posted on X, the BYC said the sit-in at Tejaban Karki had entered its third day “in the coldest winter weather”, with families “sitting on the road with patience, pain and dignity”.
“Their demand is simple and human: end enforced disappearances,” the group said, adding that “despite the passing days, the government has offered no response, no clarification, no accountability. Silence has replaced responsibility.”
The BYC described the protest as “not violence, it is grief”, saying families were demanding the most basic human rights: “the right to know where their loved ones are, and the right to life, dignity and justice”.
“In freezing temperatures, these families sit peacefully, proving that enforced disappearances are not just a political issue; they are a grave human rights violation,” the post said. “Their bodies are cold, but their hope is burning. And their voices will not be erased by silence.”