Families of Baloch missing persons in Karachi and Quetta continued their protests on Tuesday, demanding the recovery of their loved ones, as another young man from Kech district was reported to have returned home after ten months in custody.
Outside the Karachi Press Club, relatives of Zahid Ali Baloch said they had maintained a sit-in for 15 consecutive days despite heavy rain. Zahid’s father, Hameed Baloch, told reporters that his son was picked up by security personnel on 17 July while waiting for transport in Karachi and has been missing for more than a month.
“It has now been 33 days, but we do not even know where our son is or what condition he is in,” he said. He appealed for Zahid to be produced in court if there were charges against him, calling his disappearance “an unbearable trauma for a family.”
In Balochistan’s capital Quetta, the protest camp of the Voice for Baloch Missing Persons (VBMP) marked its 5,915th day outside the Press Club on Tuesday. VBMP chairman Nasrullah Baloch said the organization had received a complaint about the disappearance of Mir Yousaf Qalandrani, the son of a tribal elder and local council chairman, who was allegedly detained in Karachi on 17 August.
He said that three of Yousaf’s brothers were among hundreds of Qalandrani family members detained in a 2010 military operation and remain missing to this day. “The unlawful arrest and disappearance of Mir Yousaf and others is not only a grave violation of human rights but also a blatant affront to the Constitution of Pakistan and international human rights law,” he said.
Nasrullah Baloch urged the judiciary, parliament and human rights bodies to take notice, warning that enforced disappearances were eroding public trust in state institutions. “This issue is not only that of the Baloch nation, but of the entire human society and the dignity of human rights institutions,” he said.
Meanwhile in Turbat, Kech district, a youth identified as Suhail Ahmed, son of Abdullah Lashkaran, returned home on Monday after being missing for ten months. He was forcibly disappeared by Pakistani forces in October 2024, according to his family.
