Rights body raises alarm over enforced disappearances of women in Balochistan
Quetta, Dec 24 (IANS/WISHAVWARTA) A leading human rights organisation expressed serious concern over the alarming rise in enforced disappearances of women in Balochistan by Pakistan’s security forces and intelligence agencies.
According to the Human Rights Council of Balochistan (HRCB), as many as 12 women have been abducted this year alone, reflecting a deepening human rights crisis in the province. The latest cases include Hazra, an eight-months-pregnant Hani, and 17-year-old Hair Nisa.
“These acts violate Pakistan’s Constitution and its obligations under international law, including Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), the Convention on the Rights of the Child, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the Convention Against Torture, which prohibit enforced disappearance, arbitrary detention, and torture,” the HRCB stated.
Such violations, the rights body said, also undermine Pakistan’s Generalised System of Preferences (GSP+) commitments with the European Union, threatening continued compliance and underscoring the need for urgent accountability and transparency.
Meanwhile, voicing concern over the growing atrocities against women in Balochistan, Sammi Baloch, the central leader of the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC), stated that a disturbing pattern is unfolding in the province, where the enforced disappearance of Baloch women is no longer treated as an extraordinary crime but instead has become an everyday occurrence.
In a video shared by the BYC on the social media platform X, Sammi said, “Almost daily, new cases are reported in which women are abducted from their homes in front of their families—without warrants, without charges, and without any information provided to their loved ones.”
“What was once unthinkable has now been normalised. While Balochistan has long suffered from the practice of enforced disappearances, the specific targeting of women—including underage girls, mothers with infants, and pregnant women—marks a dangerous and cruel escalation of state violence,” she added.
Highlighting the role of women in the Baloch movement, the BYC leader stated that historically, women have been at the forefront of resistance as mothers, daughters, sisters, and activists.
“The decision to target them is not accidental; it is a calculated attempt to terrorise the entire community, break public morale, and punish families who dare to demand justice. In this context, silence is complicity. We urge people from all walks of life to raise their voices against this oppression,” Sammi stressed.
“Today, Baloch women are disappearing in plain sight. If this cruelty is allowed to continue unchallenged, tomorrow, the silence will consume all communities,” she warned.
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