Protests continue in Balochistan over enforced disappearances in the area for the last few months. According to the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC), a Baloch family staged a sit-in protest on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) highway at Sahaki Balgatar in Balochistan’s Kech district yesterday, following the enforced disappearance of a relative, demanding his immediate and safe recovery.

 

The 24-year-old farmer Abidin Baloch was forcibly disappeared on Sunday evening on Kilkhor Road by Pakistan’s intelligence agencies. Since his enforced disappearance, the family had received no information about his whereabouts. This protest is a call to end enforced disappearances and hold the state accountable for systematic human rights violations in Balochistan and to ensure the safe release of Abidin, the BYC stated. Enforced disappearances are a recurring and tragic reality in Balochistan, where hundreds of Baloch are disappeared or killed every day. The people of this land must speak up against this injustice or risk complete suppression,” it added.

 

Expressing grave concern over the continued use of enforced disappearance as a tool of repression, the Baloch Voice for Justice (BVJ) stated that such actions by Pakistani forces violate fundamental human rights and deny families access to justice. Highlighting the atrocities against civilians across Balochistan, Paank, the Baloch National Movement’s Human Rights Department revealed that four other individuals, including a minor, were forcibly disappeared on the night of April 19 by Pakistani security forces during a raid conducted at their respective residences in the Panwan area of the Gwadar district.