Baluchistan: Besides a rise in cases of enforced disappearances and abductions in Baluchistan, there has been a reported increase in the number of extrajudicial killings in Baluchistan, stated the monthly newsletter of the Baloch Human Rights Council (BHRC) today.

Twenty-one persons have been unlawfully abducted by the security forces from various districts of Baluchistan, the report mentioned, adding that an alarming number of confirmed and unconfirmed mutilated bodies were recovered from Baluchistan and Lahore. These are believed to be the missing persons

The report mentioned that while 21 persons were abducted by the security forces or proxy death squad from various districts of Baluchistan, an alarming number of confirmed and unconfirmed mutilated bodies were recovered from Baluchistan and Lahore. These are believed to be the missing persons. Details are as follows:

The names of the missing students abducted by the security forces on June 4, 2022, from Quetta have been revealed as Shahzad, Atiq, and Ahmad who belong to Baluchistan's Kalat, Kharan and Khuzdar districts, respectively.

In a recent incident, Security forces picked up Kalimullah Noor, a postgraduate student in the sociology department of Karachi University, from the Joharabad area of Karachi and subsequently picked up two Baloch students at Karachi University as well whose names were Doda Ilahi and Ghamshad Ghani.

They were kept incommunicado for a week, tortured and released on June 13 after widespread protests.

Security forces also picked up Hafiz, son of Bashir Ahmad, from his home in Absar, Kech district. His whereabouts are still unknown, the report said.

Moreover, a local death squad picked up two brothers, Irshad and Sharafat, from their home in Issai village of Panjgur. According to the media report, they are still missing.

Several relatives of the Baloch missing persons are examining the reports of unidentified dead bodies found in various areas of Lahore, however, Pakistani media underlined that 55 bodies appear to be from outside Punjab which raises the fear that these bodies might be of the Baloch missing persons.

Enforced disappearances of political activists, students and other intellectuals are now common in Baluchistan as Pakistani security forces have launched a campaign to silence the dissidents.

They are used as a tool by Pakistani authorities to terrorize people who question the all-powerful army establishment of the country or seek individual or social rights. Cases of enforced disappearances have been majorly recorded in the Baluchistan and the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa provinces of the country.