Quetta, Nov 7 Several human rights organisations condemned the “ illegal detention” of three youths by Pakistani forces in Balochistan, as the cycle of persecution continues amid an escalating wave of enforced disappearances across the province.
Paank, the Baloch National Movement's Human Rights Department, mentioned that Salman Baloch, the Deputy organiser of the National Democratic Party (NDP), along with two others, Deleep Das and Sahir Baloch, were forcibly disappeared during an “illegal raid” conducted on Thursday night at Bolan Plaza on Brewery Road in the provincial capital Quetta. The rights body alleged that Pakistani security forces searched the entire room without a warrant and took away all three roommates.
Paank further stated that there has been a surge in “illegal detentions” of political workers in Balochistan regardless of their backgrounds.
“Such a trend is catastrophic because the state of Pakistan and its notorious law enforcement agencies are intentionally deteriorating the democratic and peaceful political values and scope in the region. We have already raised the ill intentions of the state and its institutions, but they are continuously increasing their irregularities and illegal practices,” Paank mentioned.
The rights body urged the international community to press Pakistan over its continuous human rights violations in Balochistan, including enforced disappearances.
Condemning the incident, the Baloch Women Forum (BWF) described the extrajudicial custody of Salman Baloch and his companions from Quetta as a continuation of Pakistan’s tactics to curb democratic political activism in Balochistan.
“We have observed a surge in state’s irregular and illegal acts to further deteriorate the already shrinking space of democratic political activism in Balochistan with the forced and illegal custody of Salman Baloch, the Central Deputy Organizer of the fellow-working party, the National Democratic Party (NDP), and his fellows, Deleep Das and Sahir Baloch, from Quetta last night (November 6) at around 3 in the midnight. Three of the detainees were shifted to an unknown location, which is neither disclosed to their families nor friends,” the BWF stated.
The BWF expressed solidarity with the National Democratic Party and called on the international community to take notice of the “direct barbarism” on democratic political activism in Balochistan.
“Their abductions are opposed to law, ethics, and an attack on the integrity of Baloch society at large,” it stated.
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