VBMP Demands Justice for Baloch Disappearances

The Voice for Baloch Missing Persons (VBMP) has urgently called for the release of Mahjabeen Baloch, her brother Muhammad Younus Baloch, and other individuals who have been forcibly disappeared. VBMP is raising alarms over an alarming trend of abductions of Baloch women in Pakistan's troubled Balochistan province. During a press briefing at their ongoing protest camp outside the Quetta Press Club, which has been active for over 5,845 days, VBMP leaders vehemently condemned the recent disappearance of Mahjabeen Baloch, a Library Science student from the University of Balochistan and a resident of Basima, Washuk district.

VBMP reports that Mahjabeen was apprehended during a joint operation by police, the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD), and other security forces. Her brother, Younus Baloch, an engineering student, had previously been detained by the same forces and remains missing. VBMP highlights a troubling pattern of collective familial targeting. They cite the killing of Shah Jahan Kurd, brother of missing Baloch Students Organisation (BSO) chairman Zahid Baloch, as part of efforts to clamp down on dissent and silence activism.

Enforced disappearances are described by VBMP as an 'unforgivable crime,' with the surge in women's abductions representing a dangerous new escalation in the ongoing human rights crisis in Balochistan. "These acts go beyond legal discourse; they represent a moral and humanitarian emergency," stated VBMP representatives, decrying secret trials and faceless judges as extrajudicial measures that cannot exist in a just society.

In a bid to draw attention to the plight of numerous Baloch families, the group announced plans to hold a protest on Eid, marking 16 years since the enforced disappearance of student leader Zakir Majeed. Human rights organisations, including the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC), Paank, and the Baloch Women's Forum, have appealed to the United Nations and global civil society for intervention, urging independent investigations into the enforced disappearances in Balochistan.

(With inputs from agencies.)