Quetta: Prominent political activist and leader of the Baloch Yakjehti Committee, Dr. Sabiha Baloch, has issued a statement marking two months since the enforced disappearance of her father, Mir Bashir Ahmed. She alleges that Pakistani security forces abducted her father, and there has been no information regarding his whereabouts since.
“My father is a respected, kind-hearted man who always stood firmly for truth and justice,” said Dr. Baloch. “Though he was naturally concerned about my work in human rights, he himself remained steadfast in supporting the oppressed.”
Dr. Sabhia Baloch emphasized that despite the challenges she faced as a student and as a woman, she always chose peaceful and legal means to advocate for those whose voices have been silenced. “As a doctor, I know that while physical wounds may heal with medicine, the wounds of the soul can only be healed through justice, truth, and acknowledgment.”
She questioned the role of the state and its security institutions, saying, “Instead of protecting citizens, the state is silencing them. My father’s disappearance is not just a personal tragedy for our family, it is a message of intimidation to thousands like me. Is this what security and law mean? What law permits blackmail, abduction, and psychological torture?”
Mir Bashir Ahmed, aged 65, suffers from high blood pressure and heart disease. Dr. Baloch expressed grave concern over his health in custody. “If anything happens to him, who will be held accountable?”
As Eid al-Adha approaches, Dr. Baloch said the upcoming holiday brings no joy for her family. “This Eid will be a time of pain, waiting, and silence. Just last night, 25 more Baloch individuals were abducted. Every enforced disappearance is not just a loss of an individual, but a wound to an entire family—an unending collective pain.”
She added, “If the aim is to break us or numb us to the suffering of others, then the state has failed. My pain only strengthens my resolve.”
Calling enforced disappearances illegal, immoral, and inhumane, Dr. Baloch said, “No law, tradition, or justification can legitimize such cruelty. When disappearances are used as a weapon, they expose the moral decay of those who commit them.”
Concluding her statement, Dr. Baloch offered a prayer: “I pray for those who have stolen our peace, who justify injustice, and who find comfort in the suffering of others may they never find peace. May the prayers of the oppressed follow them.”
She appealed to the public to raise their voices. “Speak out against enforced disappearances. Stand with us in solidarity. Remember my father, my family, and the thousands of other affected families in your prayers.”
“Delayed justice is a wound that never heals, and silence is a crime,” she said.
