Khurshid Ahmed Baloch

The Baloch Advocacy and Studies Center (BASC) expresses its full solidarity with the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) @BalochYakjehtiC and supports its campaign to address the ongoing practice of enforced disappearances in Balochistan, with particular concern over the recent increase in cases involving Baloch women. In Balochistan, the practice of enforced disappearance has persisted for years and has affected a significant portion of the population. Many victims of this practice have been extrajudicially killed; many others have been released with severe physical and psychological repercussions, struggling to live a normal life. The fate of many of the disappeared remains concealed from their families, subjecting them to prolonged uncertainty and deep distress. Historically, men constituted the majority of the victims. In recent months, however, a disturbing shift toward the targeting of women has been witnessed. Those affected include human rights defenders, students, and family members of individuals who have publicly demanded accountability. This pattern raises serious concerns about reprisals against women for their civic engagement and for their association with individuals critical of the state’s oppressive policies. Although enforced disappearances unquestionably constitute a serious violation of international human rights law and infringe upon multiple non-derogable rights, their real-time implications are far more profound than their legal character alone suggests. This is particularly true in cases involving women, whose enforced disappearance exposes them to heightened risks of physical and psychological harm and represents an aggravated violation of international legal protections. These risks and patterns have been documented by international human rights organisations and raised before United Nations human rights mechanisms, including the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, which has communicated these concerns to the authorities in Pakistan. Despite such engagement, victims and their families continue to face systemic obstacles to justice, including ineffective investigations, denial of due process, and pervasive impunity. Pakistan, instead of ensuring transparency, has deepened repression, allowing an alarming cycle of human rights violations to persist. The justice system, far from protecting victims, has increasingly become a tool of repression. The legislative body, the Provincial Assembly of Balochistan, has enacted laws aimed at stifling civil society, undermining the ability of human rights organisations to operate freely. BASC condemns the continued erosion of human rights and calls for an immediate end to repression, particularly against women and girls. BASC also supports and reiterates the following demands advanced by the Baloch Yakjehti Committee: - The immediate, safe, and unconditional return of all Baloch women and girls subjected to enforced disappearance. - The establishment of an independent, impartial, and international fact-finding mission with a mandate to investigate cases of enforced disappearance in Balochistan. - Full accountability for all state institutions and officials, including the Counter Terrorism Department, the Frontier Corps, intelligence agencies, and associated actors implicated in unlawful detentions and enforced disappearances. - The repeal of the Balochistan Anti-Terrorism (Amendment) Act 2025, which facilitates prolonged secret detention and undermines fundamental safeguards against arbitrary deprivation of liberty. - The ratification by Pakistan of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, and the adoption of comprehensive domestic legislation criminalising enforced disappearance in accordance with international standards. BASC urges the international community, the United Nations, and relevant special procedures to closely monitor the situation in Balochistan and to engage with the Government of Pakistan to ensure compliance with its international human rights obligations. #SaveBalochWomen #EndEnforcedDisappearances #JusticeForBalochWomen

Between September and October, more than a hundred people were added to the Fourth Schedule and placed on the Exit Control List (ECL) from across Balochistan. Since the @PPP_Org assumed power in Balochistan, anti-terrorism laws have been abused more than ever. The Fourth Schedule, ECL, and Cyber Crimes laws are increasingly used to target political dissent and peaceful human rights activists. This month, I, along with @SammiBaluch, other BYC members, @ShaleeBaloch from the Baloch Women Forum, 32 residents of Dera Bugti, 26 from Dalbandin, and several others from Kech, Kalat, Kharan, and Mangochar, were among hundreds placed on the Fourth Schedule. I have also been placed on the ECL and received a government summons. There is a growing trend of enforced disappearances affecting both men and women, while hundreds of others are being added to various terror watch lists. If we raise concerns today about the misuse of anti-terror laws, some may not take them seriously. However, this pattern will have broader consequences for the rest of Pakistan in the future. @HRCP87 @amnestysasia @amnesty @MaryLawlorhrds @UN_HRC @EUPakistan