Families of abducted Baloch individuals block major roads at Khuzdar

The families of forcibly disappeared Anees Baloch and Nazeer Ahmed Baloch blocked the major road near Balochistan’s Khuzdar, a statement by the Baloch Yakjehti Committee, a Baloch rights organization reported on Sunday.

The family of Anees Baloch, a Computer Science graduate from the Bahauddin Zakaria University from Multan disappeared on June 4 from his hometown.

The family of Anees had organized a protest merely two days after the kidnapping of the Baloch individual but were given fake assurances from the administration. However, the whereabouts of the abducted Baloch individual remain unknown.

Another sit-in was organized by the family members of Nazeer Ahmed Baloch near Khuzdar for the safe release of the abducted individuals.

Previously, an attack at the sit-in organized in the Chaman area of Pakistan was condemned by the Baloch People’s Congress, a political organization dedicated to advocating for Baloch rights.

Through a statement on X, the Secretary General of the BPC, Siddik Azad Baloch condemned the actions of Pakistan’s Punjabi army against peaceful protesters in Balochistan.

The statement said, “The brutality of Pakistan’s Punjabi army on the peaceful protest and sit-in of the people for their rights in the Chaman area of Balochistan is very alarming and condemnable.

“For the past several months in Chaman, the people have been sitting on a peaceful sit-in for their social and economic rights, which are not being heard. Unfortunately, this peaceful sit-in is being met with continuous violence by the state army,” the statment added.

Raising the concern about the ongoing state oppression faced by the people of Balochistan, BPC called upon international human rights organizations to pay immediate attention to the brutality inflicted by the state armed forces.

The statement said “The people of Balochistan are constantly facing state oppression, but despite all these oppressions, they continue to fight for their rights, which is commendable. I appeal to the international human rights organizations to take immediate notice of the brutality of the state armed forces on the public sit-in of Chaman in Balochistan and request the humanitarian circles of the world to raise their voice against this oppression at every forum.”

The border town of Chaman in Balochistan remains tense as violent demonstrations and confrontations between protesters and law enforcement persisted for the third consecutive day on Friday. The clashes have led to injuries sustained by several individuals. The Chaman protests revolve around opposition to the Pakistan government’s strict visa policies at the Afghan border.