Quetta, June 20 (IANS) A Baloch human rights organisation on Friday expressed grave concern over the ongoing wave of enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings of Baloch civilians by Pakistani forces.
Baloch Voice For Justice (BVJ) revealed that Saifullah, who was abducted from Mangochar village of Balochistan on June 11, is still missing. Additionally, Shahzaib Ahmed, abducted on Eid, died after brutal torture, while one youth remained missing and another is in critical condition.
“On June 11, Saifullah, son of Raheem Dad Muhammad Shahi, was forcibly disappeared from Mangochar Bazaar and remains missing to this day. Shahzaib Ahmed, a resident of Quetta Killi Qambarani, was forcibly disappeared from Mangochar on Eid. He was subjected to brutal torture while in custody. His body showed burn marks, broken arms, and severe injuries. Despite receiving medical treatment, he passed away within hours,” read a statement issued by the BVJ.
The human rights body highlighted that the crisis of enforced disappearances continues to plague Balochistan, leaving countless families in anguish as their loved ones remain missing for years without explanation or accountability.
It urgently called upon other human rights organisations to intervene and advocate for the safe return of the disappeared individuals.
The rights body revealed some of the longstanding unresolved cases which included Abdul Rasheed, who vanished on February 9, 2012 while travelling from Hub to Karachi. In addition, Ali Hassan Sheikh was abducted from Wadh on November 4, 2011, and is still unaccounted for, while Muhammad Ramzan Mengal, a resident of Saroona, was taken from Hub in 2011 and remains missing.
The BVJ demanded the unconditional release of all disappeared persons and appealed to the global human rights community to confront this ongoing humanitarian emergency.
In a separate development, the ongoing protest in front of the Turbat Press Club in Balochistan by another human rights group, the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC), entered its second day on Friday.
The BYC Kech Zone has organised the sit-in protest against the illegal detention of its central organisers Mahrang Baloch, Bebarg Baloch, Sibghatullah Shajee, Gulzadi, Beebo, and others who are illegally detained by Pakistani authorities.
People from Balochistan province are currently fighting for their independence from Pakistan. Various human rights organisations of Balochistan have time and again highlighted the repression by Pakistani forces in the province, which includes violent raids on the homes of Baloch leaders and civilians, unlawful arrests, enforced disappearances, the ‘kill and dump’ policy, detention under the Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance, and the filing of fabricated police cases.
–IANS
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