A 16-year-old schoolgirl has been reportedly abducted in Balochistan’s Khuzdar district.
According to local sources, unidentified armed men abducted Sidra, daughter of Allah Bakhsh, from Khattan Girls High School in Khuzdar and took her to an unknown location.
Sources said the incident occurred on 11 September while the student was present at the school. Her whereabouts remain unknown, and she has not been seen and heard since.
No one has claimed responsibility for the alleged abduction, and no official statement regarding the incident was available at the time of filing this report.
The case comes amid continuing concerns raised by rights groups and political organisations regarding incidents involving women and girls in Balochistan. Families and advocacy groups have reported a number of cases in recent years in which women were allegedly taken into custody or disappeared under disputed circumstances.
In April this year, two women, Sameena Baloch from Khuzdar and Gul Banuk from Kech, were reportedly abdcuted during separate incidents and remained unaccounted for extended periods, according to family members and rights organisations.
Several other cases involving Baloch women have also drawn attention in recent years. Rights groups have alleged that some women who were previously reported missing were later presented by Pakistani authorities in terrorism-related cases, while concerns regarding due process and access to legal safeguards have been raised by families and human rights organisations.
Human rights groups, including the Human Rights Council of Balochistan (HRCB), Voice for Baloch Missing Persons (VBMP), Baloch Women Forum (BWF), and Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC), have repeatedly called for the whereabouts of missing women to be disclosed and for detainees to be produced before courts if criminal charges exist.