Zahid Baloch was abducted by Pakistan’s security forces from Quetta, the capital city of Balochistan, in front of witnesses on March 18, 2014. Eyewitnesses included Karima Baloch, the human rights icon of Balochistan who was mysteriously found dead in Toronto, Canada, on 21 December 2020 after disappearing a day earlier.
Zahid has not been produced in any court yet despite many countrywide and international campaigns and calls from human rights organizations for his release.
He is a political activist and student leader. He should have been treated as a political prisoner with rights, including the right to a free trial. Putting him in secret military dungeons violates his political and social rights provided by the international humanitarian laws and the UN’s Charter of Human Rights.
His years-long illegal detention is affecting the lives of his wife, children and entire family. His wife does not know if she should call herself his wife or his widow. The children don’t know if they are orphans or their father is still alive and would come back.
All the international human rights bodies and mechanisms were approached about his case. International media and human rights groups have published many stories to bring the case into light. But, still he remains missing, with his fate unknown.
