Families of six Baloch individuals allegedly forcibly disappeared by Pakistani forces held a protest outside the Lasbela Press Club in Hub on Saturday, demanding their immediate recovery.
Relatives of Nasreen Baloch, Hani Baloch, Hair-Nisa Baloch, Fatima Baloch, Fareed Baloch and Mujahid Baloch said the disappearance of their loved ones had pushed their families into severe psychological distress.
They said that while enforced disappearances of young men had been reported for years, the targeting of women, including underage girls and pregnant women, was a “deeply alarming escalation.”
The families questioned what crime the disappeared individuals could have committed to justify their detention, saying that if any allegations existed, they should be produced before a court. Forcibly disappearing people, they said, was a grave violation of human rights and an illegal and unconstitutional act.
The families said they had attempted to register a First Information Report at the local police station but alleged that the Station House Officer (SHO) refused to accept their application. “What kind of justice is this?” one protester asked, saying the refusal left them with no option but to take to the streets.
They demanded that authorities disclose where the six individuals were being held and in what condition, warning that if they were not released soon, the families would intensify their protest. They also appealed to national and international human rights organizations to intervene.
‘An alarming escalation’
Addressing the protest, Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) leader Fauzia Baloch said the enforced disappearance of women in Balochistan had reached “an extremely alarming” stage. She said the targeting of women was being used to “spread fear and suppress national thought and social consciousness.”
She alleged that people were disappearing daily in Balochistan, adding that women were at times “dragged through the streets and humiliated” and at other times forcibly taken away, amounting to an assault on the dignity of the Baloch nation.
Fauzia Baloch criticized the state for calling itself an Islamic republic while, she said, neither Islamic values nor democratic principles were visible. She accused authorities of trampling cultural and religious traditions and imposing authoritarianism “in the name of democracy.”
She said the BYC stood with the families of the disappeared and would continue what she described as its peaceful and democratic struggle against oppression, coercion and tyranny, and for the promotion of political and national consciousness in Balochistan.