The Human Rights Department of the Baloch National Movement (BNM), PAANK, has released its monthly report for May 2025, documenting alarming human rights violations in Balochistan. The report highlights a disturbing increase in extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances, reflecting a broader pattern of state violence in the region.
According to PAANK’s data, Pakistani forces forcibly disappeared 128 individuals and carried out 27 extrajudicial killings across various districts of Balochistan in May alone.
The highest number of enforced disappearances occurred in Gwadar (32 cases), followed by Kech (27), Karachi (10), Awaran (9), Quetta (Shal) (8), Panjgur and Mastung (7 each), Chaghi (5), Dera Bugti (4), Noshki (6), Musakhel, Kalat, and Khuzdar (3 each), and Barkahan, Harnai (2 each), and Washuk (1 case).
May also proved to be a deadly month for extrajudicial killings. PAANK reported that 27 individuals were killed by Pakistani military forces and their affiliated state-backed death squads. Notable cases include:
- On May 1, Sameer Ahmed was abducted in Tasp, Panjgur, and his body was discovered on May 9.
- On May 5, 15-year-old Ali Baloch was killed by a state-backed death squad in Tump, Kech.
- On May 10, Waheed Baloch was abducted in Panjgur and found shot dead the next day.
- Sufi Tariq was abducted and killed in Jamadi, Gwadar, while Fahad Lehri’s mutilated body was recovered from Quetta on May 13.
- The remains of Mohammad Ramzan, who had been missing since 2014, were found in May.
- Younis Baloch was killed in Malar, Awaran, and Bakhtiar Ahmed was targeted in Kalat for speaking against military operations.
Several individuals, including Sajid Baloch, Yasir Baloch, Hanif Aziz, Abdul Latif Baloch, and Ghaus Bakhsh, were abducted from their homes and later found dead. Abdul Latif Baloch, a senior journalist, was murdered while sleeping at his home, underscoring the grave threats faced by media personnel in Balochistan.
On May 26 and 27, during military operations in Machi Malar, Awaran, Naeem Baloch and Hoori Baloch, a woman, were killed, while another woman was seriously injured.
Additionally:
- On May 22, Sher Khan Khetran was taken into custody in Barkahan, and his body was found on May 28.
- Darman Baloch, previously detained twice, was found dead on May 30 in Jahoo.
- On May 29, in Aapsar, Kech, driver Musafir Baloch was killed, followed by the deaths of Nazar Baloch and Abdul Aziz, and on May 30, Levies official Sagheer Ahmed was also killed.
Three individuals Abdul Rahman Buzdar, Fareed Buzdar, and Sultan Marri were abducted by the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) and later killed in a staged encounter in Barkahan.
PAANK’s report concludes that the Pakistani military and its affiliated armed groups operate with complete impunity, targeting civilians, activists, students, journalists, and even government employees. These actions represent not only severe violations of domestic and international legal norms but are part of a broader campaign to impose collective punishment and silence dissent through fear.
PAANK has called on the international community to urgently take notice of these systemic and dangerous human rights violations in Balochistan and to take meaningful steps toward justice for the oppressed people of the region.
