QUETTA, BALOCHISTAN: Former Chairman of the Baloch National Movement (BNM), Khalil Baloch, condemned the killing of BNM Central Committee member Dr. Abdul Rasheed Baloch, also known as Dr. Nokap, in a statement shared on the social media platform X.
According to the statement, Dr. Abdul Rasheed, who was living as a refugee in Western Balochistan (Iran), was shot dead inside his home in front of his family members by armed personnel linked to Pakistani security forces. Khalil Baloch said that Pakistan’s actions against the Baloch nation would, in time, be remembered alongside historical examples of state brutality.
The statement said Dr. Abdul Rasheed’s family home had reportedly been raided and demolished multiple times by Pakistani forces in his native area, which forced him, like many other Baloch refugees, to migrate to Iranian-administered Balochistan. Despite displacement, Khalil Baloch said, Dr. Abdul Rasheed continued serving displaced Baloch families in the remote area of Shamsar treating patients, providing medicine to those in need using his own resources and donations and teaching children who lacked access to schooling. He was described in the statement as a symbol of hope and service for Baloch refugees.
Separately, the statement also reported the third forced disappearance of Qadir Bakhsh Baloch, elder brother of BNM’s former Vice Chairman Dr. Khuda Bakhsh Baloch, from Baghbana, Khuzdar. According to Khalil Baloch, Qadir Bakhsh Baloch and his two sons had previously been detained and allegedly tortured in the custody of Pakistani forces before being released, but the family had continued to live under surveillance and fear of re-arrest.
Khalil Baloch said enforced disappearances inflict prolonged suffering not just on the individual but on entire families and called the renewed disappearance part of what he described as a broader state policy of enforced disappearances and collective punishment against Baloch families. He said such actions would not weaken Dr. Khuda Bakhsh Baloch’s resolve or force the Baloch nation to abandon its political objectives.
