In a distressing development within the ongoing trend of extrajudicial killings of Baloch missing persons by Pakistan’s state forces, three individuals previously reported missing were found dead in a staged car explosion.
On November 13, the police brought three bodies to the Hoshap police station in district Kech, claiming they were victims of a car explosion. Later on, the deceased were identified as two brothers Adil son of Assa, Shahjan son of Assa, and Nabi Bakhsh. All of them were students and forcibly disappeared persons who were already in the forces’ custody.
Adil, a high school student from Nali area of Balgetar, was taken away by Pakistan’s secret agencies on August 22 while working part-time at advocate Abdul Majeed Shah’s office. During the raid, several other employees present at the scene were also subjected to physical harassment, beatings, and their mobile phones and belongings were confiscated.
Shahjan was abducted the same day along with four other students. Ahmed son of Shugrullah, and Shaukat son of Lewari were abducted from his own locality, Balgetar, and Zaheer and Pir Jan, sons of Lashkaran from Turbat City. Ahmad was a student of Aired Agriculture University, Rawalpindi, Punjab.
Despite filing a First Information Report against the forced disappearance of the students and appeals for their safe release, only their dead bodies were returned to their families.
Turbat Civil Society supported these claims, alleging the military’s involvement in the victims’ disappearances and criticized the police for not investigating their killings.
Some sources also suggest the car involved was seized from the D Baloch Cross days before the incident.
This tragic incident underscores Pakistan’s alarming human rights violations in Balochistan. The state forces have a history of employing cruel tactics and fabricating events to eliminate Baloch missing persons, often to cover up their culpability in crimes against humanity. Fake encounters and the discovery of mass graves are other examples often used by the forces.
This incident sparked immense concerns among thousands of families who have been tirelessly struggling for the safe recovery of their loved ones.
It should be noted that the remaining four students, Ahmad, Shaukat, Zaheer, and Pir Jan are still in the custody of the forces and remain under the same threat.
