Quetta: Vice Chairman of the Voice for Baloch Missing Persons (VBMP), Mama Qadeer Baloch, has said that the issue of enforced disappearances in Balochistan has become extremely grave and continues unabated. Speaking at the VBMP’s hunger strike camp, which has now entered its 5,817th day, he called on the United Nations to take serious note of the situation.
Expressing solidarity with the camp were Abdul Jabbar Baloch, Shakeel Baloch, Noor Ahmad Baloch, and people from various walks of life in Shal (Quetta).
Mama Qadeer emphasized that from 2001 to the present, over 5,500 Baloch political activists have been forcibly disappeared. According to reports from the VBMP and families of the victims, these individuals are being held incommunicado by Pakistan’s intelligence agencies, subjected to severe torture, and many have been killed extrajudicially.
He noted that although the Supreme Court of Pakistan took notice of the issue in 2011, its hearings led to no real results. Not a single missing person was recovered, and in fact, the problem worsened. Mama Qadeer alleged that the Supreme Court was either trying to appease the families on behalf of the state or was helpless in the face of the powerful intelligence agencies. In both scenarios, there is no hope for justice.
He added that the Court had given warnings and deadlines to the Frontier Corps (FC) to present the missing persons, but neither the FC nor the intelligence agencies complied. Instead, they continued to abduct more people and dump mutilated bodies across the region. Drawing a parallel with East Timor, Mama Qadeer said that just as Indonesian intelligence agencies defied court orders during the occupation of East Timor, similar lawlessness is prevailing in Balochistan.
Mama Qadeer concluded by reiterating that enforced disappearances are not just a legal or human rights issue but a humanitarian crisis demanding urgent international intervention.
