Waheed Ilahi Bakhsh has been forcibly disappeared by the Pakistan army some hundred meters from his home in Dolechi Jhao area of district Awaran. The family fears that he might share his father’s fate, who was abducted in 2016 and his mutilated body was thrown last year.
On May 7, 2016, the army whisked away Waheed’s father Ilahi Bakhsh Pirjan from the same checkpost. He was kept incommunicado for almost three years and on January 3, 2019, his mutilated dead body was found dumped in Hub Chowki, district Lasbela, some 250 miles away from Dolechi Jhao.
Moreover, on May 10, 2016, the army shot dead Mujahid Murad in Wadi Bijjar Jhao area of district Awaran. Mujahid was a cousin of Waheed and Zonal Deputy Secretary of the Baloch National Movement, a political party struggling for the right of self-determination. He was refueling his auto when the army shot him dead. For days, the army refused to hand over the body for proper burial. Later, he was buried in Wadi Bijjar Jhao.
After Mujahid’s death, the army whisked away his father, Murad Pir Jan. He was subjected to inhumane torture during detention and later released without any explanation. For years, the family has remained a victim of Pakistani military’s ruthless policies in Balochistan. Waheed’s arbitrary detention has once again traumatized them.
Furthermore, a senior leader of the Balochistan National Party (BNP), Jan Mohammad Gurgunari was abducted by unknown gunmen from Wadh area of district Khuzdar on Thursday. The head of BNP has alleged that one Mati-ul-Rehman is behind the abduction. Mati-ul-Rehman is son of Atta-ul-Rehman Mengal and grandson of Naseer Mengal, a former senator and acting Chief Minister of Balochistan, and Minister of State for petroleum and Natural Resources. Gurgunari was later released.
