The central chairman of the Baloch Students Organization (BSO), Jihand Baloch, was detained from his home in Quetta and moved to an undisclosed location, while more than 20 people were taken away in separate raids in Mangochar, the organisation and local sources said.
The BSO said in a statement that Pakistani forces detained Jihand Baloch during a raid on his home in Quetta’s Hudda area.
The statement described Baloch as the leader of a student political organisation committed to democratic political activity, adding that he had previously been subjected to enforced disappearance on two occasions.
The BSO demanded that he be produced immediately and released unconditionally.
Baloch’s wife said personnel from the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) entered the family’s home at around 11:00pm and took him away.
“They harassed us at gunpoint, assaulted the children and took my husband, Jihand Baloch, away with them. We have received no information about him since then,” she said.
She called on the authorities to present him before a court if there were any charges against him. She added that the family should be informed about his condition and whereabouts if he was in official custody.
Separately, local sources said Pakistani forces carried out raids in several parts of Mangochar tehsil in Kalat district, subjected residents to physical abuse and detained more than 20 people.
The identities and whereabouts of those detained were not immediately known.
The raids come amid reported military operations and movement restrictions in parts of Kalat and neighbouring Mastung district.
A day earlier, Pakistani forces reportedly detained five people, including a woman and three children, in Mastung, while a curfew has also been imposed in Mastung’s Khadkocha area.
Local sources have also reported operations in other parts of Mastung and Kalat, while a resident was reportedly killed in Khuzdar after shelling by Pakistani forces hit a populated area.