The bodies of 10 men were found in Balochistan’s Barkhan district on Saturday, including a man previously reported as forcibly disappeared by Pakistani forces, while the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) claimed it had killed 10 suspected militants in an operation in the district.
Iqbal Nawab, son of Nawab Khan, was identified among the dead. He was reportedly detained outside the Sessions Court in Rakhni on December 26, 2025, and subsequently disappeared.
The CTD said it conducted an intelligence-based operation in Rara Sham, claiming that 10 suspected militants were killed. It added that two of its personnel were injured and weapons and ammunition were recovered.
However, Iqbal’s disappearance had been documented months before the CTD announcement.
TBP reported his detention on January 10, identifying him as Muhammad Iqbal , a 28-year-old labourer. A December 2025 report by Paank, the Baloch National Movement’s human rights department, also recorded his disappearance, listing his father as Nawab Khan and attributing his detention to Military Intelligence.
The bodies were found in Sarati and taken to a health facility in Rara Sham. All 10 men were identified through identity cards found on their bodies and belonged to different parts of Kohlu district, according to details received by TBP.
The other nine were identified as Painda Khan, son of Tabu Khan; Hassan, son of Umar Khan; Sher Muhammad, son of Bani Bakhsh; Mazar Khan, son of Mehr Dad Khan; Din Muhammad, son of Dur Muhammad; Gohar, son of Din Muhammad; Wazir Khan, son of Nawara Khan; Damir Bakhsh, son of Khuda Bakhsh; and Syed Khan, son of Amir.
Disappeared Men and Disputed CTD ‘Encounters’
Baloch rights groups and families have repeatedly alleged that men reported as forcibly disappeared are later killed in staged encounters and presented as militants.
At least eight of the 16 men the CTD reported killing in three operations in Mastung, Barkhan and Naseerabad earlier this year were identified by families and the Voice for Baloch Missing Persons (VBMP) as previously disappeared men.
In Barkhan itself, the CTD claimed six men were killed in an exchange of fire in February. Families and local sources identified three of them as Akbar Domki, Budha Lashari and Makhan Lashari, saying they had been forcibly disappeared by Pakistani forces at different times.
Abdul Razzaq Pirkani, one of five men the CTD said it killed in Naseerabad in June, was also identified as previously disappeared. His relatives said Pakistani forces had detained him on January 10.
VBMP also identified four of the five men killed in a claimed CTD encounter in Mastung’s Dasht area on January 19 as previously disappeared. Its chairman, Nasrullah Baloch, rejected the department’s account as “contrary to the facts” and called the practice a “grave violation of human rights”.
He called for a transparent inquiry, saying those accused of wrongdoing should have been brought before a court.
“Killing them extrajudicially in fake encounters is a violation of the country’s laws,” he said.
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