Military abduct 38 in 10 days in Balochistan

In the first ten days of November 2021, the security forces forcibly disappeared thirty-eight people from different areas of Balochistan, which is the highest number of enforced disappearances reported in recent months. The abductees include nine students including students from University of Balochistan. The students of University of Balochistan, in protest, boycotted the classes and have been sitting on protest in front of University’s administration office against the abduction of students from hostel rooms and presence of military in the University premises.

According to details, on November 05, security forces whisked away two students from their hostel rooms during a late-night raid. The students were identified as Sohail Ahmed son of Lal Mohammad and Fasih Baloch. Both are residents of Nushki, Balochistan.

On November 06, security forces cordoned off a shop on Post Office road in Hub Chowki, the industrial city of Balochistan and forcibly disappeared Zubair Zehri son of Siraj Ahmed and Adnan Mengal son of Khuda Bakhsh. Both are students of Poly Technic College, Quetta.

In a separate raid on the same day, security forces carried out a late-night raid on the house of late political activist and ex-leader of Balochistan National Party, Sarwar Baloch in Nushki area of Balochistan. The forces took away his two sons, Behroz Sarwar and Nohbahar Sarwar, both students, to undisclosed location.

In a following raid, forces whisked away two more B U students from Nushki area of Balochistan. The abductees were identified as Jameel Ahmed and Abdul Rehman.

Another student, Aslam Baloch was forcibly disappeared during a military raid on his house on November 09. He is a resident of Allahabad town in Hub Chowki.

On November 07, security forces summoned Baik Rozi in military camp in Jatt Kolwah area of district Awaran to collect the identity documents of his once disappeared sons. He never returned. On October 29, during a military operation, forces detained his sons and released them on October 31. But their identification documents were confiscated. Baik Rozi was now called to collect the documents, and he detained and disappeared. He is a pastoral nomad who relies on his livestock for a living.

At least 15 youths are detained and disappeared during raids in several Baloch populated areas of Karachi, the capital of Sindh province. Three of them were identified as Navel, Adnan Sadiq and Samiullah. Navel was abducted from Kalari, Lyari while Adnan and Samiullah were abducted from Faqeer Colony, Karachi. Families of the abductees were threatened not to report the incidents and they would release them after interrogation, but it did not happen for last more than a week.

Families of these victims of enforced disappearance are given no information regarding the charges or wellbeing and whereabouts of their loved ones. On the other hand, killing the disappeared persons in fake encounter has risen in Balochistan in recent months.

Human Rights Council of Balochistan (Hakkpaan) is a non-profit and non-partisan human rights group based in Balochistan and Sweden. It collects reports from Balochistan, a region Pakistan government does not allow any media and HR group to visit and report. Human rights violations in Balochistan is not a new phenomenon, but it got its worst levels after the Military coup de tat of Pakistan in 1999. Thousands of Baloch have been reported missing, hundreds killed in fake encounters and so-called kill and dump policy of the military. HRCB collects the data from Balochistan itself, through its network of volunteers and supporters, organizes and reports them to the human rights mechanisms of the world.