Pakistan: Rights group alarmed over enforced disappearances in Balochistan

Lahore [Pakistan], February 17 : The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) on Thursday expressed concerns over reports of a fresh wave of enforced disappearances in the country's Balochistan province.
"The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) is alarmed by reports of a fresh wave of enforced disappearances in Balochistan and the rest of the country, including most recently, Hafeez Baloch, a postgraduate student at Quaid-e-Azam University in Islamabad," the HRCP said in a statement.
According to HRCP, Baloch was allegedly disappeared while in Khuzdar, where he volunteers at a local school. Reports suggest that he was abducted in front of his students.
The rights group said the sheer brazenness of this act underscores the increasing impunity accorded to perpetrators. "Mr Baloch must be recovered immediately and the perpetrators identified and held accountable."
Questioning the Pakistani government's pledge to criminalise enforced disappearances, the HRCP said this promise continues to ring hollow. "Two students at Balochistan University were allegedly disappeared last November, but an extended sit-in by students at the university was met with little more than vague assurances that they would be recovered."
The rights group also raised concern over the "continuing shroud of silence" over enforced disappearances in the province, which remains deliberately cut off from the mainstream media.
"The state must understand that it cannot expect to resolve the legitimate grievances of the Baloch people if it is not prepared to let these grievances see the light of day," the HRCP added.