16 Years On: The Unresolved Disappearance of Dr. Deen Mohammad Baloch

Sixteen years have elapsed since Dr. Deen Mohammad Baloch, a pivotal figure in the Baloch National Movement and a government medical officer, was forcibly made to disappear. On June 28, 2009, according to Paank, the Human Rights Department of the BNM, Pakistani security personnel in civilian attire stormed the hospital in Ornach, Khuzdar, where Dr. Baloch was working.

He was subjected to assault, blindfolded, restrained, and forcibly taken into a military vehicle, his location shrouded in mystery since then. The Balochistan human rights situation is epitomized by Dr. Baloch's abduction, with families ensnared in torment and questions unanswered as thousands echo his plight over the last two decades.

Paank has painstakingly documented numerous cases where individuals, including minors, were seized without legal grounds, many never to return. Such disappearances are a systemic repression tool in Balochistan, effectively quashing political dissent. Despite beseeching Pakistani authorities, the cries for justice have been met with resounding silence, fostering impunity.

Paank decries the disappearance as a flagrant violation of global human rights covenants, urging the UN and global civil society to demand accountability. Paank stressed that international inaction only exacerbates abuses, insisting on Dr. Baloch's fate reveal and the return of all missing persons.

This tragedy inflicts not just personal grief but embodies a communal scar, highlighting the enduring quest for truth and justice against systemic subjugation, Paank remarked.

(With inputs from agencies.)