Quetta, July 25 (IANS) The Baloch Women Forum (BWF) expressed grave concern over the escalating enforced disappearances of civilians, including women and children, allegedly carried out by Pakistani forces in Balochistan, warning that the practice has become one of the most alarming human rights issues of the 21st century.
The remarks came following the July 21 incident in the Killi Kongarh area in Mastung district of Balochistan, where security forces personnel raided a house and abducted six members of a family.
The victims were identified as 33-year-old Bibi Rafia, her three young children aged 3 months, 4 years, and 6 years, her 40-year-old brother Muhammad Arif, and her 18-year-old niece Bibi Nida.
Condemning the intensifying pattern of enforced disappearance across the province, the BWF said: “The recent Mastung incident is not just a tragedy for one family but a link in this broader chain of enforced disappearances in Balochistan, about which local human rights activists, affected families, and various organisations have continuously raised their voices.”
“Numerous families have been waiting for years for the return of their loved ones; numerous victims have passed away while waiting for their loved ones; yet this policy of coercion shows no signs of ending,” it added.
The BWF stressed that international law explicitly recognises women and children as categories warranting special protection.
“When it comes to a mother, the situation becomes even more serious, because the disappearance of a mother is not merely the disappearance of an individual—it plunges the entire family, especially minor children, into severe psychological, economic, and social crises. If even infants or minor children are deprived of their freedom, the matter takes on an even more grave nature, which has now assumed an even more serious form in Balochistan today,” it noted.
Highlighting the escalating abuses in Balochistan by Pakistani authorities, the BWF said “People are kept confined in anonymous torture cells for years; then, in some cases, mutilated bodies are recovered, in others, they are buried in unmarked graves; some emerge completely mentally paralyzed; or the thousands of individuals who have been in unknown conditions for years, no one knows anything about them.”
The forum noted that the worsening situation places an even greater responsibility on human rights organisations to raise their voice on every forum to help end the ongoing abuses by Pakistani authorities in Balochistan.
Meanwhile, the Baloch Students Action Committee (BSAC) strongly condemned the enforced disappearance of student political activist Jeeyand Baloch and another youth, Asif Baloch, along with his friends, saying the incident underscores the growing threats faced by Baloch students.
“This deliberate act of illegal acts and intimidation, marked by unstoppable numbers of enforced disappearances, is not only condemnable but highly concerning. We have always deemed such acts as unlawful and inhumane in nature and have condemned them in many cases. We believe that such conduct creates an atmosphere of fear among Baloch society, which is a clear violation of democratic practice,” the BSAC stated.
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