QUETTA, BALOCHISTAN: The Baloch National Movement (BNM) has issued a statement marking the completion of 16 years since the enforced disappearance of party member Mohammad Ramzan Baloch, declaring that his detention and the sacrifices of other political prisoners continue to guide the Baloch nation toward its goal of independence.
In a statement released by BNM spokesperson, the party confirmed that Mohammad Ramzan has been in the custody of the Pakistan Army since July 25, 2010, when he was detained at Uthal Zero Point while travelling to Gwadar. Sixteen years on, his whereabouts and condition remain unknown to his family and party.
The BNM spokesperson said the sacrifices of Mohammad Ramzan and other prisoners of what the party describes as the freedom struggle were made for the cause of Balochistan’s independence. He stated that the occupying army had failed to erase their ideology and thought through torture cells and prolonged detention.
“This era of oppression is about to end,” the spokesperson said. “Balochistan will be free, and every act of cruelty will undoubtedly be accounted for.”
The statement was unequivocal in its message that those responsible for enforced disappearances would eventually face accountability, framing the current period of repression as a temporary chapter in a longer historical struggle.
In a historically rich passage of the statement, the BNM spokesperson drew a direct parallel between Mohammad Ramzan and other present-day political prisoners and Hammal-e-Jihand, the 16th century Baloch national hero who became a symbol of resistance against Portuguese colonialism.
The spokesperson said just as the Baloch nation still remembers Hammal-e-Jihand centuries later, the political prisoners of the present era would also not be allowed to be buried in the dust of history.
“The Baloch nation will never forget its victims of enforced disappearances,” the statement read. “These sacrifices will continue to guide us toward the defence of an independent Balochistan founded on humanitarian principles and will continue to remind us of our destination.”
The BNM further emphasised that it is precisely these sacrifices that keep movements alive and prevent nations from losing their way.
Mohammad Ramzan’s case is one of thousands of enforced disappearances documented in Balochistan over the past two decades. Human rights organisations including Amnesty International and Voice for Baloch Missing Persons have consistently raised alarm over the practice, which they say is used systematically to silence political activists, journalists, and civil society members in the province.
The BNM statement comes at a particularly charged moment for Balochistan, following the recent life imprisonment sentencing of BYC chief organiser Dr. Mahrang Baloch and fellow leader Sibghatullah Baloch by an anti-terrorism court in Quetta, a verdict that has drawn widespread international condemnation from human rights organisations including PEN International and Amnesty International.
