Geneva, Sep 18 (IANS): A leading international human rights organisation has drawn the attention of the global community to the grave abuses in Balochistan, accusing Pakistani authorities of subjecting activists, students and families of missing persons to arbitrary detention, enforced disappearances and reprisals.
Addressing the 63rd Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council held in Geneva, The Hague-based Global Human Rights Defence (GHRD) said, “We draw the Council’s urgent attention to the human rights crisis in occupied Balochistan, where Baloch human rights defenders, students, and families of the disappeared faced enforced disappearance, arbitrary detention, and reprisals by Pakistani authorities.”
Highlighting the continued imprisonment of Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) leaders, the organisation referred to concerns raised by UN Special Procedures over the detention of Mahrang Baloch, Beebow Baloch, Gulzadi Baloch and others, as well as reprisals against their families
It said that the life imprisonment handed down to BYC leaders Mahrang Baloch and Sibghatullah Shahji by a Pakistani anti-terrorism court on June 22, 2026, followed an “expedited secret prison trial with no direct evidence presented linking them to violence.”
“Families are also forced to submit declarations disowning relatives accused of militancy, facing anti-terrorism proceedings and property confiscation for non-compliance. Responsibility must be individuals’. Families cannot be punished for their relatives’ alleged actions,” GHRD stated, expressing concern over the atrocities against Baloch civilians by Pakistani authorities.
The organisation urged the UN Human Rights Council and the High Commissioner to press Pakistan to immediately end enforced disappearances and collective punishment, disclose the fate of all disappeared persons, ensure fair trials, and release Baloch human rights defenders detained for peaceful advocacy.
Last week, the BYC accused Pakistani authorities of pursuing a systematic campaign of militarisation and repression in Balochistan, where violence and displacement have become part of civilians’ everyday lives.
It said that the discovery of mutilated bodies of Baloch civilians abandoned along roadsides reflects the “ brutality and inhumanity” of the violence.
“What is happening in Balochistan is not a series of isolated incidents. It is a systematic policy of militarisation, destroyed livelihoods, displacement, and violence against civilian life, applied together deliberately. Mutilated bodies are left on roadsides, demonstrating the brutality and inhumanity of the violence. Violence has become part of everyday life, with people forced to continue their daily routines around dead bodies as though they have become unnoticeable,” the BYC stated.
