Quetta, Oct 18 (IANS) At least three Baloch students have been forcibly disappeared by the Pakistani security forces in Balochistan, said a leading human rights organisation on Saturday.
The latest incident comes against the backdrop of a continuing cycle of persecution marked by a surge in enforced disappearances, extrajudicial killings, and torture across the province.
Paank, the Baloch National Movement’s Human Rights Department, mentioned that Wahab Baloch, a resident of Sar Dasht in the Pasni region and Nazeer Baloch, a resident of Isplinji area of Mastung in Balochistan, were forcibly detained by the Pakistani security forces between the night of October 16 and 17.
According to the rights body, Wahab, a student of the Faculty of Sciences, moved to the provincial capital Quetta for better educational opportunities, and Nazeer, a first-semester nursing student at the Nursing College at Civil Hospital Quetta.
“In a disturbing trend, the Pakistan state authorities have increased victimising the Baloch students of the heinous crime of enforced disappearances. Only in recent times, every day, Balochistan brings up news of a youth, mainly a student, being illegally detained by the state’s security forces without disclosing their whereabouts to their families,” Paank stated.
Paank, while denouncing such “forced and illegal arrests”, demanded the immediate, unconditional and safe recovery of the two Baloch youths.
Highlighting another case of enforced disappearance, human rights organisation Baloch Voice for Justice (BVJ) stated that 26-year-old Asad Baloch was abducted from Hudda in Quetta on October 16 by Pakistan’s Counter Terrorism Department personnel.
The rights body stated that Asad is a student whose whereabouts remain unknown and demanded his immediate release, calling for an end to enforced disappearances in Balochistan.
Earlier on Friday, the Human Rights Council of Balochistan (HRCB) strongly condemned the ongoing military operation in the Zehri region of Khuzdar district in the province, where indiscriminate drone and airstrikes over the past month have killed and injured dozens of civilians, including women and children.
“We are deeply concerned by the continuous military aggression and widespread human rights violations in the region. Civilians must never be targeted. The ongoing siege, unlawful killing, curfew, and deliberate deprivation of essential supplies imposed on Zehri’s residents amount to collective punishment and have created a worsening humanitarian catastrophe,” the HRCB stated.
–IANS
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