From Male Enforced Disappearances to Female Victims: Balochistan’s Shifting Clampdown

Islamabad, September 11 – The decades‑long practice of forced disappearances in Balochistan, once aimed primarily at men, has broadened to target women, signalling a new chapter in state‑driven oppression. The South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP) reports that authorities routinely extract confessions after detaining individuals without warrants, often holding them for weeks or months in secret facilities before staging a public confession via video.

A landmark incident involves Mahla Baloch. In February 2023, police stormed her home in a Quetta satellite town, seized her without a warrant, and later alleged she possessed explosives and was linked to militant suicide‑attack networks. Her relatives vehemently rejected the claims. Despite a 55‑day period of physical remand, the prosecution never produced solid evidence; instead, a video aired showing Mahla giving a forced admission within a police interrogation room.

The SATP analysis notes the state's decision to apply its abduction tactics to women accused of joining insurgent or female‑fighter groups. While female participation in armed rebellion has been minimal, women’s civil activism has surged. They have spearheaded campaigns against extrajudicial killings, organized long‑distance marches, and held mass demonstrations demanding the release of missing relatives.

A notable march saw hundreds of women traverse approximately 1,000 miles from Turbat in the Kech district to Islamabad, culminating in a sit‑in outside the Islamabad Press Club that captured the nation’s attention. Sammi Deen Baloch of the Baloch Yakeenati Committee explained that systematic night‑time kidnappings of men left women with no choice but to become the primary agents of the justice movement, leading them to confront the authorities directly.