Enforced disappearances persist across Balochistan as families urge Pakistan to uphold rule of law

According to The Balochistan Post, at least three young men, including a university student, were recently abducted in separate incidents across Quetta and Mastung. Witnesses said that on December 1, Syed Ahmed Shah, a student at the University of Balochistan's Department of Education, was taken into custody by men believed to be associated with Pakistani intelligence agencies. Eyewitnesses stated that armed men arrived in a vehicle with tinted windows and dragged him away from outside the university's main gate.

In Mastung's Dasht, Jalab Gandan area, two residents, Nadeem Kurd and Fareed Kurd, were also allegedly taken by security forces and have since gone missing. On December 7, another case emerged from Gwadar district, where Farooq Ibrahim, son of Haji Ibrahim Kalmati, was abducted from his home in Jiwani's Panwan area. His family stated that the raid included members of a local "death squad." They recalled that Farooq's elder brother, noted car racer Tariq Kalmati, had been similarly abducted in 2015 and later found dead in Gwadar. The same night, Karachi witnessed a similar incident when Ali Nawaz Kalmati, a resident of Panwan, was detained by security personnel and subsequently disappeared, as highlighted by The Balochistan Post.

In a press conference at the Quetta Press Club, the family of Shahzad Munir, another missing university student, condemned what they described as a warrantless midnight abduction by state forces. They cited Articles 9 and 10-A of Pakistan's Constitution, asserting that Shahzad's secret detention was illegal and unconstitutional. They urged Pakistan's authorities to uphold the rule of law and end the practice of secret detentions, warning that such actions not only violate human rights but also erode public faith in justice and governance, as reported by The Balochistan Post. (ANI)