Pakistan: Protests erupt in Mastung over enforced disappearance, rights group calls for action

According to a post shared by the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) on X, Kamran, a native of Killi Azizabad and the son of Haji Mir Ahmed Muhammad Shahi was allegedly picked up at 5 pm on February 13 from the Shaheed Safar Khan Chowk. Additionally, armed individuals took his motorcycle, and it is still unclear about his current whereabouts.

The family and their allies protested by blocking the road and calling on others to join them in opposing enforced disappearances. They said the protest would go on until Kamran is recovered, the Post on X reported.

The post on X highlighted that the family expressed their distress and blamed the state of increasing violence, focusing on innocent students, and harassing families physically and psychologically. They appealed for international attention to the problem and emphasized the growing alarm over enforced disappearances in Balochistan.

The BYC's post appealed to the public to raise their voices for Kamran and thousands of others allegedly held in state custody.

Earlier, BYC has stated that the region is still reeling from the crisis and cited numerous instances of enforced disappearances committed by "security forces and state-sponsored death squads."

In a post on X, BYC claimed that "security forces and state-sponsored death squads" hounded the relatives of victims, threatened them, and confiscated their phones in addition to listing the latest disappearances.

Balochistan faces numerous issues, including state repression, enforced disappearances, and extrajudicial killings of activists, scholars, and civilians. The region suffers from economic neglect, with insufficient development, lack of basic infrastructure, and limited political autonomy.

Balochistan continues to be one of the most dangerous locations in respect of human rights, BYC organizer Mahrang Baloch wrote on X earlier, stressing the kidnapping of Baloch woman Asma Baloch. (ANI)