Quetta, July 23 (IANS) Another Baloch civilian was forcibly disappeared by Pakistan’s Frontier Corps (FC) during a raid on his home in Kech district of Balochistan amid an ongoing wave of enforced disappearance across the province, a leading human rights organisation said on Wednesday.
Paank, the Baloch National Movement’s Human Rights Department, mentioned that FC personnel raided the home of Abdost Jogi in Kech in the early hours of Tuesday and forcibly took him without a warrant or any legal justification.
Highlighting the witness report, the rights body stated that Jogi was abducted and moved to an unknown location, with no information provided to his family.
“This incident adds to the growing number of enforced disappearances in Balochistan, where state forces continue to target civilians under the guise of security operations,” Paank stated.
The organisation unequivocally condemned the enforced disappearance of Jogi and held the Pakistani military responsible for the blatant violation of human rights. It stated that such abductions are in direct breach of both domestic constitutional protections and international human rights conventions.
The human rights body also condemned the extrajudicial killing of Mazar Baloch, a resident of Awaran district in Balochistan, by the Pakistani army.
Revealing the brutal incident, Paank stated that on July 21, Mazar was summoned by the Pakistani army to appear at the Central Cantonment in Mashkai in Awaran district, and complying with the order, he presented himself as required. It further stated that on his return, Baloch was targetted and killed by an armed death squad operating under the supervision of the Pakistani army in Khandri village in Mashkai.
“Mazar Baloch’s killing is a grave violation of human rights and reflects a disturbing pattern of state-sponsored violence in Balochistan. It is particularly egregious that Mazar had previously endured enforced disappearance by Pakistani forces in 2015, only to be released in 2020. For the past five years, he was repeatedly summoned to various military camps, subjected to ongoing harassment, and coerced to comply with military directives. Despite his consistent declarations of innocence, his life was brutally taken in a premeditated act of violence,” Paank stated.
The human rights body demanded an immediate, independent, and transparent investigation into Mazar Baloch’s killing, as well as accountability for those responsible, including the Pakistani army and the death squads operating under its protection.
Paank urged the international community, including the United Nations, to address the escalating crisis of enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings in Balochistan, describing that these acts are part of a systematic campaign of repression, constitute war crimes and must be met with justice.
–IANS
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