Seven members of a family were picked up from their house in Khuzdar, Balochistan allegedly by officials of the Counter Terrorism Department. Six were released a few hours later, but the whereabouts of another abducted family member, an intermediate student, remain unknown.
Officials from CTD allegedly picked up seven members of the family from the Jangi Abad area of Khuzdar last night. Six people were released a few hours later. However, the whereabouts of Ali Nauman, an intermediate student, are still not known, The Balochistan Post reported.
On May 4, a Baloch school teacher, a graduate of the University of Agriculture Faisalabad, was allegedly abducted by armed men from his shop in Khuzdar, Balochistan.
Last month, a Baloch student pursuing a Master’s degree from Health Services Academy in Islamabad was allegedly abducted on his way to his hometown near Quetta.
Dr Fayyaz Lashari was abducted along with another Baloch student, Dr Nabi Dad Bugti, from Ziarat Cross, near Quetta while returning to his hometown for the Eid holidays. Dr Nabi Dad Bugti was later released.
Earlier, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) had expressed concerns over the “state’s widespread use of enforced disappearances” in Balochistan to muzzle dissent.
In its fact-finding report, titled: “Balochistan’s Struggle for Hope”, the human rights watchdog had noted that there have been continued reports of enforced disappearances in Balochistan and there was no improvement in the situation since 2019 when the HRCP’s team visited the province the last.
It had also stated the HRCP notes with “considerable alarm that Balochistan faces mounting public frustration pertaining to enforced disappearances, economic exclusion, curbs on press freedom, misgovernance and allegations of political manipulation by the establishment”.
