Protests were held in Quetta on the first day of Eid al-Fitr against enforced disappearances and the continued detention of Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) leaders, organisers said.
A rally was held as part of BYC’s campaign, while the Voice for Baloch Missing Persons (VBMP) staged its annual Eid demonstration, a practice observed in previous years. Participants at both events called for the recovery of missing persons and an end to enforced disappearances.
At the BYC rally, protesters demanded the release of Dr Mahrang Baloch and other leaders who they said had been detained for nearly a year. They said the leaders were imprisoned for raising their voices in support of forcibly disappeared individuals and described their detention as unjust.
At the VBMP protest, families of missing persons gathered in large numbers and called for the release of their loved ones and an end to enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings.
Families said holding protests on Eid reflected that their loved ones remained missing and that they wanted to raise awareness of their situation. Members of political parties, student groups and civil society organisations also attended and expressed solidarity.
‘Our Eid joy is imprisoned with my brothers‘
Yasmeen Hameed, sister of forcibly disappeared brothers Junaid Hameed and Yasir Hameed, said Eid had become a reminder of their absence.
“Our Eid celebrations have been confined to prison along with my two brothers,” she said, adding that more than a year had passed since their disappearance without any information from Pakistani authorities.
She said enforced disappearances were not recognised as punishment under any law and that authorities had not disclosed their whereabouts or informed the family of any charges.
“If there are any allegations against my brothers, they should be presented before a court and legal requirements fulfilled, or they should be released,” she said.
Junaid Hameed and Yasir Hameed were forcibly disappeared by Pakistani forces in October 2024 from Hub Chowki and Kalat, respectively, according to family and local sources.
Their family has since held press conferences, staged sit-ins on highways and organised protests in Hub, Quetta and Islamabad. During two sit-ins, authorities assured the family the men would be released and written agreements were signed, the family said. However, both men remain missing.