Four people, including three Baloch students, have allegedly been forcibly disappeared in separate incidents in Balochistan, Punjab and Islamabad, while the Voice for Baloch Missing Persons (VBMP) and Baloch Students Action Committee (BSAC) have called for the recovery of two students missing for five years.
According to reports, Rahmdil Baloch, 35, son of Muhammad Saleh, a shopkeeper from Panjgur’s Parom area, was detained by Frontier Corps (FC) and Military Intelligence (MI) personnel at the FC camp in Parom at around 4:30 p.m. on October 24. He was taken to an undisclosed location, and his whereabouts remain unknown.
In another incident, Hizbullah Langove, 23, son of Abdul Ghafoor Langove, was reportedly detained by Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) personnel on Quetta’s Airport Road at around 3:30 p.m. on July 12. Langove, a student and resident of Killi Alam Khan, has remained missing since his detention.
Separately, CTD personnel allegedly detained 15-year-old student Waqas Baloch, son of Ehsanullah, at Centaurus Mall in Islamabad at around 11 a.m. on October 30. Waqas, a resident of Dera Ghazi Khan, was taken to an undisclosed location, according to the reports.
Meanwhile, the Baloch Students Council Bahawalpur said its member Saqlain Baloch, a Bachelor of Education student at The Islamia University of Bahawalpur, was forcibly disappeared on October 29.
According to the council, personnel associated with state agencies forcibly removed Saqlain from a rickshaw outside Japan Town on Hasilpur Road at around 3 p.m. and took him away. He is originally from Peer Adil in Dera Ghazi Khan district.
Family members said they had repeatedly visited police stations and contacted the relevant authorities, but had received no information about his whereabouts. They said no first information report (FIR) had been registered over the incident.
The Baloch Students Council Punjab demanded that the authorities disclose Saqlain’s whereabouts and ensure his safe recovery, adding that he should be presented before a court if he was in custody. It also called for an FIR and an impartial investigation.
Five Years Since Students’ Disappearance
Meanwhile, the VBMP’s protest camp against enforced disappearances continued outside the Quetta Press Club for the 6,405th consecutive day.
In a statement, VBMP Chairman Nasrullah Baloch said November 1 marked five years since Sohail Ahmed, son of Lal Muhammad, and Muhammad Faseehullah Shah, son of Abdul Rauf Shah, were forcibly disappeared from the University of Balochistan in 2021.
Both were BS students in the Department of Pakistan Studies and lived in the university’s boys’ hostel, he said.
Nasrullah said their families had repeatedly approached government institutions, the judiciary and the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances, but had received neither justice nor satisfactory information about their whereabouts.
The BSAC also expressed concern over the students’ continued disappearance, recalling a government committee’s assurance that they would be released or presented before a court within 30 days.
In its statement, the committee said students had held a peaceful sit-in after Sohail and Faseeh were taken from the university’s hostel premises. The protest ended following assurances from the government committee, it said.
“Five years have now passed, but there has been no progress,” the BSAC said, adding that the disappearances had caused severe distress to the students’ families and fellow students.
The organisation said the establishment of an inquiry commission itself reflected official recognition of enforced disappearances, yet had failed to bring meaningful improvement. It criticised the lack of progress despite repeated appeals to government institutions, courts and the commission.
“Political repression, enforced disappearances and the misuse of force are not a solution to any problem, nor do they have any legal, constitutional or moral justification,” it said.
The BSAC urged the authorities to ensure Sohail and Faseeh’s immediate and safe recovery.
Nasrullah Baloch also called for their recovery and for those responsible for their disappearances to be identified and held accountable. If either student faced allegations, he said, they should be presented before a court in accordance with the law, and their families should be given credible information about their whereabouts.