Pakistan’s restive Balochistan province witnessed yet another alleged extrajudicial execution as the mutilated body of 17-year-old Yahya Baloch surfaced in Panjgur’s Washbood region. Missing since five months ago under suspicious circumstances, his death has ignited fresh condemnation from activists. The Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC), a prominent rights organization, disclosed the details on Wednesday, framing it within a broader pattern of state-sponsored abductions and murders.
BYC emphasized the impunity with which these acts occur, even as the holy month of Ramadan unfolds. The group demanded urgent UN probes into the ‘human rights catastrophe’ plaguing the region, insisting on justice for victims and accountability for the military.
Parallel reports from Pank, the human rights arm of Baloch National Movement, detailed a wave of nine new enforced disappearances. Quetta’s Killi Kambrani neighborhood saw 17-year-old Shoaib Ahmad Kambrani dragged away by CTD agents from his family home.
Kech district’s Minaj area was another flashpoint, where FC troops seized businessman Rahim Bakhsh, aged 45, alongside four teenagers: Ali Ahmad (17), Yasir (19), Asif (17), and Abdul Rehman (18). On February 26, brothers Zakariya and Rehan vanished during a joint FC-CTD operation in Turbat. Saddam, an 18-year-old student, was last seen being hauled off Quetta’s Brewery Road by CTD on February 16.
Balochistan’s civilians live in perpetual fear under the shadow of military operations, where abductions have reached unprecedented levels. Rights groups warn that without external pressure, the cycle of violence will only intensify, eroding any semblance of justice in the province.