Forced disappearances of young people, especially students, have increased in recent days in Balochistan, sparking a series of protests for their recovery. In Turbat, the center of Kech district, ten families from Bulaida are protesting in front of the commissioner’s office for the recovery of their forcibly disappeared loved ones. Similar protests are taking place in Quetta and Khuzdar, where families of the disappeared are also demanding answers.
It has been 15 years since the forced disappearance of Baloch student leader Zakir Majeed. To mark this somber anniversary, the Baloch Students Organization Azad named June 8, as the day of enforced disappearances in Balochistan. Zakir Majeed’s sister and mother have tirelessly pursued justice through Pakistan’s courts and judicial commissions over these fifteen years, engaging in various forms of protest, but Zakir Majeed remains missing.
Enforced disappearances began as a tool to counter the Baloch insurgency under General Musharraf’s military dictatorship and continue two decades later. The state has failed to quell the Baloch insurgency through enforced disappearances and repression. Instead, the movement against these disappearances is gaining attention from international organizations.
The Baloch freedom movement persists despite forced disappearances and extrajudicial killings. This persistence indicates that state brutalities alone cannot end the movement. The campaign against enforced disappearances has broken the atmosphere of fear in Baloch society. If state oppression continues, it is likely that political resistance will persist with further intensity.