In a chilling escalation of state repression, Pakistan’s security forces have forcibly disappeared three more individuals in Balochistan, including two women, as reported by leading rights monitors on Friday. This latest wave intensifies decades of allegations against the military for secret detentions and summary executions in the resource-rich province.
Paank, the human rights arm of the Baloch National Movement, detailed the nighttime raid on April 22 in Khuzdar’s Istakli neighborhood, where Sameena was violently seized from her home by Frontier Corps and intelligence operatives amid family beatings.
Echoing this horror, young mechanic Akhtar Hussain, 20, was hauled away from Panjgur’s Shaptan on April 19 by FC personnel. The group expressed profound alarm at the repeated targeting of vulnerable women and youth.
Gul Banuk, 22, suffered a similar fate on April 14 in Kech’s Singabad Karki, abducted by FC and CTD agents. With no trace since, her family fears the worst in a pattern that has claimed countless lives.
Baloch Voice for Justice lambasted the tactic: ‘Abducting women serves as collective retribution, weaponizing vulnerability to crush opposition and erode legal norms.’
Adding to the outrage, 28-year-old author Dad Shah – sibling to activist Fouzia Baloch of the BYC – was disappeared for the second time on April 21. Front Line Defenders linked it directly to efforts to muzzle his sister’s advocacy.
‘Violence against ethnic minority defenders has spiked, with officials acting with impunity,’ the group warned, demanding Pakistan cease retaliatory actions and protect activists’ rights to operate freely.
As global scrutiny mounts, these abductions highlight the Pakistani state’s iron-fisted approach in Balochistan, where demands for justice clash with security narratives, leaving communities in perpetual fear.
