Quetta, Sep 16 (IANS) As violence against civilians continues unabated across Balochistan, leading human rights organisations brought to light the extrajudicial killing of a civilian and the enforced disappearance of another minor girl by Pakistani forces in Balochistan.
Paank, the human rights department of Baloch National Movement (BNM), revealed that state-backed death squads attacked a civilian home in the Tump area of Kech District on September 12, killing Muhammad Tahir and injuring his father, Tariq
According to the rights body, the attackers tried to forcibly disappear Tahir. When the family resisted, it said, the attackers opened fire, killing Tahir and severely injuring his father.
Condemning the brutal killing and attempted enforced disappearance, Paank called on Pakistani authorities to conduct an impartial investigation and ensure accountability for those responsible.
Highlighting the atrocities against civilians in Balochistan, Baloch Voice for Justice (BVJ) mentioned that a 16-year-old schoolgirl, Sidra, daughter of Allah Bakhsh, was reportedly abducted from Khatan Girls High School in Khuzdar district on September 11. Since then, she remains missing, with no information about her whereabouts.
The BVJ called on the United Nations to urgently address the reported pattern of enforced disappearances, abductions, and other violence against Baloch women in Balochistan, where many families continue to live in fear while numerous women remain missing.
Last month, the Baloch Women Forum (BWF) strongly condemned the enforced disappearance of three civilians, including minor girls, by Pakistani forces in Kech district.
The victims were identified as 17-year-old Shahnaz, 14-year-old Sharanaz and 50-year-old Arif Essa.
According to the BWF, both Shahnaz and Sharanaz are students and have previously been subjected to enforced disappearance. The group described the repeated abduction of minors as a “grave and deeply disturbing violation of their fundamental rights.”
“The increasing abduction of Baloch women and girls, particularly students and minors, represents a deeply alarming escalation in the use of enforced disappearance as a tool of repression. Families are being deprived of their loved ones without explanation, without judicial oversight and without any information about their safety or whereabouts. No authority has the right to place civilians outside the protection of the law,” the BWF stated.
–IANS
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