Pakistan: Leading human rights body strongly condemns enforced disappearance of Safar Baloch
Balochistan: Pakistan’s top human rights organisation, Paank, vehemently denounced the forced abduction of Safar Baloch, who was taken by force by Baloch state intelligence. Paank revealed the information in a post on X, stating that he was kidnapped on April 8 and held extrajudicially from his store in Quetta’s customs district.
Pakistan is a state party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which guarantees the right to liberty, security, and protection from arbitrary detention. Paank described his kidnapping as a flagrant violation of both domestic and international human rights laws.
Paank described his abduction as part of a systemic campaign of enforced disappearances that has afflicted Balochistan for decades rather than an isolated event.
It urged the UN, civil society, and international organisations to act quickly and put pressure on Pakistani authorities to stop the heinous practice of enforced disappearances.
“Today, April 8, 2025, state intelligence agents in Quetta, #Balochistan, kidnapped Chief Safar Baloch, whose enforced abduction Paank vehemently opposes. According to confirmed sources, Chief Safar Baloch has been kept incommunicado since being extrajudicially arrested from his store in Quetta, the capital of Balochistan, which is situated in the customs area.
The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which Pakistan is a state party, guarantees the right to liberty, security, and protection from arbitrary detention, all of which are flagrantly violated by this legislation. The abduction of Chief Safar Baloch is a part of a larger campaign of enforced disappearances that has afflicted Balochistan for many years. Families of those who vanished still endure suffering because they are not given justice or accountability.
We call for Chief Safar Baloch to be released immediately and without conditions. The Pakistani government has to answer for its ongoing abuses of the Baloch people. In a post on X, Paank urged the UN, civil society, and international human rights organisations to act immediately and put pressure on Pakistan’s government to stop the cruel practice of enforced disappearances.
State persecution, enforced disappearances, and arbitrary executions of activists, academics, and civilians are all problems in Balochistan. The area is neglected economically, has inadequate infrastructure, and has little political authority. Local populations don’t gain much from its abundance of natural resources, and forced disappearances are still a common problem.
