Pakistan: Family members of forcibly disappeared Baloch students stage protest in Quetta
Jun 03, 2024
Kech [Pakistan], June 3 : Family members of forcibly disappeared Baloch students Shayhaq and Farooq Dad staged a sit-in protest at the Commissioner House Quetta and urged people from all walks of life to join the struggle to reunite disappeared ones with their families, said the Baloch Yakjehti Committee.
The protests were organized to raise voices against the rapidly rising incidents of enforced disappearance in the Balochistan Province, according to a statement by the BYC.
https://x.com/BalochYakjehtiC/status/1797592614428102877
The Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC), a Baloch rights organization stated on X, "Family members of Forcibly Disappeared Baloch Students Shayhaq and Farooq Dad have staged a Sit-In protest at Commissioner House Quetta."
Further, the post added that the residents are facing serious human rights abuses, including the abduction and killing of their people without legal process.
Baloch rights organization urges people to join their Sit-In protest to help bring back those who have disappeared and reunite them with their families.
"Baloch Nation is enduring severe Human Rights Violations and struggles to protect their children and loved ones from being extrajudicially abducted and killed. We urge people from all walks of life to join the Sit-In and struggle to reunite the disappeared ones with their families. said Baloch Yakjehti Committee on X,
Previously, the Baloch Human Rights Council (BHRC) had submitted a written statement to the UN Human Rights Council for its upcoming 56th Session, highlighting the enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings of Baloch people in Balochistan by Pakistani state authorities.
The statement, which falls under Agenda Item 3, was submitted through the Centre for Gender Justice and Women Empowerment, a non-governmental organisation with special consultative status at the UN. Citing data collected by various human rights organizations and verified by the BHRC, the statement reports that 65 individuals were subjected to enforced disappearances in the first quarter of 2024, and 11 individuals were extrajudicially killed by Pakistani security forces.
The statement asserts that these practices not only violate fundamental human rights but also perpetuate a climate of fear and oppression among the Baloch people. Families of the disappeared live in constant agony, uncertain of the fate of their loved ones, and are often denied justice and accountability. Extrajudicial killings, where individuals are executed without due process, exacerbate the situation, undermining the rule of law and eroding trust in state institutions.
