Baloch Families Demand Answers Over Enforced Disappearances in Pakistan

Rights activists and student bodies across Pakistan have raised alarm over a series of enforced disappearances targeting the Baloch community. The latest wave of protests centers on claims that security forces are detaining individuals without due process, leaving families in prolonged distress. In Punjab, the Baloch Students Council reported that several of its members from the Punjab and Islamabad units have gone missing. Their relatives have not been informed of any arrests or provided with legal documentation. The council emphasized that this lack of transparency breaches fundamental rights and inflicts severe emotional trauma on affected households. The disappearances coincide with Eid-ul-Adha, a period usually marked by family reunions. Instead, parents and siblings of the missing students are reportedly spending the festival in anguish, uncertain whether their loved ones will return. The council described Eid as now symbolizing waiting and grief for these families. In a parallel case, Habibah Peerjan, originally from Balochistan’s Nizarabad Tump area and currently living in Karachi, was allegedly detained during a raid on May 25. The Baloch Women Forum noted this is her second such detention after a similar episode in 2022. Activists argue the repeated targeting of Baloch women signals a broader policy of intimidation. The human rights department of the Baloch National Movement called for her prompt release and an end to such practices. Additional reports detail overnight raids in multiple Balochistan districts, including Khuzdar, where seven people were reportedly detained, among them a shopkeeper named Saif-ur-Rehman.