Utrecht, Netherlands: The Baloch National Movement (BNM) staged a protest in Utrecht on the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances, drawing attention to ongoing crisis of enforced disappearances in Balochistan and expressing solidarity with affected families.
Pashtun political activists also joined the demonstration, voicing support for victims and their relatives. Protesters held photographs of forcibly disappeared persons and carried banners demanding justice and an immediate end to enforced disappearances.
Speakers at the event included BNM Netherlands Chapter President Muheem Abdul Rahim and Abid Jan Qadir, the party’s Media, IT and Cultural Department coordinator, along with Dr. Latif Baloch, Sanaullah Baloch and human rights activist Zar Khan. They spoke about what they described as the deep and lasting impact of enforced disappearances on Baloch society.
According to the speakers, hardly any Baloch family has escaped the trauma of enforced disappearance. They said families across Balochistan have endured prolonged uncertainty after the abduction of loved ones, with many receiving no information about their relatives’ whereabouts, condition, or fate.
The speakers described enforced disappearances as one of the most visible signs of what they characterized as a broader human rights crisis in Balochistan, affecting political and social activists, students, teachers, journalists, lawyers, writers, human rights defenders and ordinary civilians alike.
They reiterated that Balochistan is the homeland of the Baloch people and said the Baloch nation continues to pursue its right to self-determination. The speakers also thanked the Pashtun community for its continued solidarity, noting that Pashtun voices have consistently spoken out against what they termed oppression and rights violations affecting the Baloch.
The speakers further said that enforced disappearances form part of an ongoing campaign they described as genocide against the Baloch nation, arguing that continued disappearances, extrajudicial killings and other rights violations have created widespread fear and insecurity across the region.
The BNM called for the immediate disclosure of the whereabouts and condition of all forcibly disappeared persons, an end to enforced disappearances, independent and transparent investigations into reported rights violations and accountability for those responsible.
