The protest camp organized by the Voice for Baloch Missing Persons (VBMP) completed its 6,058th day in front of the Quetta Press Club on Sunday, as families of men killed in what they describe as a fake encounter in Mastung joined the demonstration and rejected the Counter Terrorism Department’s (CTD) account of events.
The CTD had earlier said that five “terrorists” were killed on 19 January during an armed exchange in the Dasht area of Mastung. But VBMP and the families say the men had been in state custody for months after being forcibly disappeared, contradicting the CTD’s claim of a gun battle.
Family members said three of the bodies handed over by the CTD were identified as Aslam, son of Kanarh Khan Lehri; Ghulam Hussain Lehri; and Shah Murad, son of Nokar Khan Lehri — all residents of Narmuk, Johan, in Kalat district — who, they said, had been picked up by Pakistani forces a year earlier and remained missing until the CTD announcement.
VBMP said in a statement that after two days of appeals, its chairman, Nasrullah Baloch, and central secretary, Hooran Baloch, received the bodies from the CTD and handed them over to the families. The men were later buried in their ancestral area in Johan.
The organization said a fourth victim had been identified as Abdul Muttalib, who had also previously been forcibly disappeared. One body remains at Quetta’s Civil Hospital, and VBMP said there were “strong fears” that the unidentified man was also a disappeared person killed in what it described as a staged encounter.
VBMP chairman Nasrullah Baloch said the CTD narrative was “contrary to the facts,” calling the incident an extrajudicial killing of individuals who were already in state custody. He said the recurring practice of presenting disappeared men as militants killed in shootouts was a “grave violation of human rights.”
He added that if the individuals were accused of any wrongdoing, they should have been produced before a court. “Killing them extrajudicially in fake encounters is a violation of the country’s laws,” he said.
VBMP demanded that the government order a transparent inquiry into the Mastung incident, hold those responsible to account, and “fulfill its constitutional obligations” by disclosing the full facts.
The organization said the continued use of alleged fake encounters, enforced disappearances and custodial killings had eroded public trust in state institutions and strengthened calls for international scrutiny.
Related:
CTD – The Encounter Specialists of Balochistan – TBP Report
CTD’s Turbat Encounter: Reflecting on State’s Controversial Tactics in Balochistan