Quetta (Balochistan) [Pakistan], July 21 : The Pakistani Army is reportedly planning to set up internment centres in Balochistan, like those previously set up in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and likened to the Guantanamo Bay prison complex reports the Balochistan Post.
According to the International Voice for Baloch Missing Persons (IVBMP) more than 45,000 Baloch men, women, and children have been disappeared by Pakistani forces and are languishing in such centres. The IVBMP said that "For the last few years, the forced disappearance of Baloch at the hands of Pakistani forces and intelligence agencies has intensified across Balochistan."
Former Senator Farhatullah Babar is one of the many voices in civil society that have come out in criticism of this move.
"Deeply concerned over reports of setting up internment centres in Balochistan. These opaque centres run by non-civilians arbitrarily without allowing access to family/legal aid in merged districts of KP, are Guantanamo Bay prisons and used to formalise enforced disappearances," the former senator posted on X.
"Petitions against internment centres in KP already pending before SC. No hearing since Dec 2019. Urge Balochistan govt not to fall for this monstrosity. Will regret but it will be too late," he added in another post.
In 2019, the Peshawar High Court ruled that these centres in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were unconstitutional, stating that indefinite detention without trial violates fundamental human rights and due process.
Despite this ruling, reports suggest that similar facilities continue to operate in KPK and could now formally expand into Balochistan, reports the Balochistan Post
In recent years, internment or "torture" centres are reported to have proliferated inside military cantonments in Balochistan. However, neither the Army nor the Pakistani Government has publicly acknowledged their existence.
Baloch rights groups describe these centres as places "where people are disappeared, tortured, and interrogated outside of the law."
Meanwhile, the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) has organised the Baloch Raaji Muchi (Baloch National Gathering) in Gwadar on July 28 in response to the alleged Baloch Genocide. Ahead of that massive march. Ahead of that rally the Balochistan Post has released its report on the crisis of enforced disappearances in Balochistan.
The report states that the Genocide continues to cast a dark shadow over the region and that these disappearances have targeted individuals from various walks of life, including students, activists, journalists, and politicians.
According to the report, 19 individuals were forcibly disappeared in the past two weeks and continue to be missing. In Kech and Balochistan the families of the forcibly disappeared Baloch, taken by Pakistani forces, have been protesting for months for the return of their loved ones.
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