Quetta, Oct 19 (IANS) Eight civilians have been forcibly disappeared by Pakistani security forces from various parts of Pakistan’s Balochistan, local media reported on Sunday.
As per the latest reports, several youth have been detained in Panjgur, Mastung and Kharan and taken to unknown places. Pakistani forces detained four youths after carrying out a raid at their house in Maskan Kalat, Killi Hassanabad area of Kharan at around 1:45 a.m. on Sunday, The Balochistan Post reported.
One of the detained persons has been identified as Jahangir, the younger brother of BNP member Najeeb Hassanabadi. Notably, two brothers from the same house were detained during an operation in 2013.
Among them, Najeeb was released from prison after seven months, and Babu Hassan was released after six years.
The second person who has been detained has been identified as Ahmed Shah, brother of Mehmood Shah, who has been missing since 2013. The third missing person is a resident of Kali Tamp. The missing person, Baul Khan, was also detained during the same operation.
On the night of October 18, Frontier Corps (FC) personnel carried out a raid at the houses in Kali Karak area of Mastung at around 2 a.m. and detained three Baloch youths and disappeared them.
The missing youths have been identified as Liaquat and Aqeel, both residents of Killi Karak, and Irfan, a resident of Parangabad. The families have said that the youths have not been seen since their detention. In a similar incident, Hameed was taken into custody and moved to an unknown place.
On Saturday, a human rights organisation, Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC), highlighted a surge in enforced disappearances, extrajudicial killings and torture by Pakistani authorities across Balochistan.
The BYC stated that human rights violations against Baloch civilians have intensified as Pakistan tightened its control using both force and legal measures.
In its report titled ‘Human Rights Situation in Balochistan’, the rights body documented widespread abuses specifically perpetrated by the Pakistani authorities between July and August.
“Enforced disappearances continued to increase as 182 people disappeared, with 80 in July and 102 in August. Out of these, 38 have been released. One killed in custody, and 142 are still missing with no trace of their whereabouts or well-being. The victims include 40 students, 15 minors and one woman,” read the report.
As per the findings, several districts of Balochistan, including Quetta, Kech and Awaran, recorded the largest number of enforced disappearance cases, with Pakistan’s Frontier Corps reportedly the main perpetrator.
“Extrajudicial Killings remain unabated as 29 people were killed during July and August. Most of these cases were of target killings, custodial killings, and kill-and-dump. Districts Kech, Awaran and Khuzdar recorded the most number of cases respectively,” the report added.
The report mentioned that 59 per cent of the recorded violations were carried out by Pakistan-backed death squads, and 21 per cent by armed forces, while minors also became targets, with two children killed by mortar shells fired on the civilian population.
“Torture, inhuman and degrading treatment of victims were recorded as several bodies of Baloch youth found mutilated and dumped at road sides. These were victims of enforced disappearances facing immense torture, which was clearly observed on their bodies. Kech and Awaran recorded the most number of tortured and mutilated dead bodies,” the BYC stated.
“Collective Punishment is practised in Balochistan as state authorities target the families of political workers and rights activists. Force and law are being used to crush resistance against grave human rights violations. Also, there are cases of bombardment on the civilian population,” it added.
–IANS
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