The long-running protest camp organised by Voice for Baloch Missing Persons (VBMP) against enforced disappearances in Balochistan completed its 6,054th day on Sunday, continuing outside the Quetta Press Club under the leadership of the organisation’s chairman, Nasrullah Baloch.
The sit-in, which has been ongoing since 2009, remains one of the longest continuous protests in the region. On Sunday, people from various walks of life visited the camp and expressed solidarity with the families of missing persons. Participants voiced serious concern over reports of mutilated bodies of forcibly disappeared Baloch individuals being recovered in different parts of Balochistan and reiterated demands for the safe recovery of all missing persons.
Speaking to protesters, VBMP chairman Nasrullah Baloch said that enforced disappearances constituted a grave violation of human rights as well as Pakistan’s own constitutional and legal framework. He said that VBMP had been carrying out a peaceful and constitutional struggle since 2009 to oppose enforced disappearances and other extrajudicial practices.
“Our prolonged and peaceful struggle is aimed at seeing this country free from the crime of enforced disappearances,” he said, adding that the organisation’s demands were firmly rooted in the constitution and the law.
Nasrullah Baloch further demanded a complete end to enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings of missing Baloch persons, calling on the authorities to take immediate and practical steps to ensure the recovery of all those who have been forcibly disappeared.
The continuation of the VBMP protest comes amid persistent concerns raised by families, activists and human rights groups over the lack of accountability and the absence of effective mechanisms to address enforced disappearances in Balochistan.