On May 29, 2025, the Human Rights Department of PAANK held an online press conference on X (formerly Twitter), hosted by Riaz Baloch, a central member of the Baloch National Movement and a member of PAANK. Assisting him was the department’s coordinator, Hatim Baloch, while the address was delivered by the head of the department, Dr. Nazir Noor Baloch. The press conference presented detailed accounts of ongoing state oppression in Balochistan, including extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, and severe human rights violations.
Dr. Nazir Noor Baloch stated that over the past ten days, numerous Baloch individuals have been forcibly disappeared from various areas of Balochistan as well as Karachi, with the bodies of many later recovered from different locations. The department possesses documented evidence of all these incidents.
During the press conference, incidents of state brutality throughout Balochistan in the final third of May were outlined as follows:
- On May 19, Levies officer Yunus was abducted from his home and killed the following day in a staged encounter.
- On May 21, a young man named Sajid was abducted, killed, and his body was discarded.
- On May 22, Sher Jan Khetran was forcibly disappeared from Baghao in Barkhan, tortured to death in custody, with his body handed over to relatives on May 28, and protests were suppressed.
- On May 23, Hanif son of Aziz was taken from his home at 5 a.m. and killed within twenty minutes.
- On May 24, journalist Lala Latif was shot in front of children. He had previously been a victim of enforced disappearance. His brother, Khalid Naveed (a lecturer), had also been abducted. On February 28, 2025, ten members of Latif Baloch’s family were abducted, with seven bodies dumped on March 7. Rashid Baloch (Latif’s brother) was abducted in 2011 and subsequently killed.
- On May 26, Ghaus Bakhsh was taken to a military camp and found dead the next day. On the same day, the bodies of three forcibly disappeared persons were dumped in Duki district; efforts were made to link them with armed groups.
- Two unidentified bodies were recovered from Nushki.
- On May 27, during a military operation in Awaran, house-to-house searches, torture, and firing took place. As a result, one woman and one young man were killed, and another woman injured.
- On May 27, an attack on a household resulted in the deaths of young Naim and Bibi Hori, while an elderly woman was injured. This family had previously been targeted with collective punishment ten years ago.
- Over the past week, seven bodies were recovered from Barkhan; these individuals were initially abducted, later killed, and attempts were made to link them to armed groups.
- On May 28, a death squad shot and killed a Baloch passenger in Absar, Turbat.
- On the night of May 28-29, Mahjabeen Baloch, a laboratory science student and polio patient, was forcibly disappeared from Quetta Civil Hospital.
The head of PAANK described these incidents as violations of multiple international human rights provisions, including:
- Right to life
- Right to security
- Freedom of the press
- Protection from enforced disappearance
- Prohibition of extrajudicial killings
- Accountability for human rights violations
The press conference concluded with a question and answer session, during which Dr. Nazir Noor Baloch and Hatim Baloch responded to various queries.
The Human Rights Department of PAANK appealed to the media, human rights organizations, civil society, and the global conscience to seriously address the grave human rights violations ongoing in Balochistan and to facilitate redress and protection for the affected individuals.
