Baloch man, protesting dad's kidnap by Pak forces for 10 years, found dead now

India Today

02-07-2025

After a decade-long fight for justice to find his father abducted by Pakistani forces, Baloch activist Zeeshan Zaheer was found dead on July 1, reported human rights group Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC), the Balochistan-based human rights group.Zaher's bullet-ridden body was found two days after he was reportedly abducted by "unknown men". The BYC alleged Zaheer was picked up by a Pakistani state-backed "death squad" in Panjgur.advertisementZaheer, who had been campaigning for over a decade for the release of his father, Zaheer Ahmed, who was abducted by Pakistan's Frontier Corps (FC) in April 2015, was last seen on the night of June 29. According to BYC, he was returning home after a football match around 8 pm when two vehicles intercepted him. Bystanders reportedly saw him being beaten with his hands tied before he was thrown into one of the vehicles.
That same night, Zaheer's family and residents blocked the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) highway in protest, demanding his release. But by morning, the protest had turned into mourning. Zaheer's body, riddled with six bullets to the chest, knife wounds, and clear signs of torture, was found dumped in Panjgur.Zaheer had become a familiar face in Balochistan's resistance movement against what is the Pakistani establishment's cruel tactic to curb dissent, enforced disappearances. He took part in a long march to Islamabad and other public campaigns to shed light on Balochistan's enforced disappearances.ENFORCED DISAPPEARANCE AND EXTRAJUDICIAL KILLINGS COMMON IN BALOCHISTANadvertisementThe human rights wing of the Baloch National Movement, Paank, stated that his killing was part of a broader pattern of "state-backed" targeting of youths and activists in the restive province.It must be noted that for decades, the Balochistan province of Pakistan has been a hotbed of unrest, with the ethnic Baloch people agitating against what they perceive as exploitation by the Pakistani establishment, and the Chinese, and their interests tied to projects of the CPEC.The BYC called Zaheer's murder an extrajudicial killing and organised a campaign to condemn it. The BYC, formed in response to systemic human rights abuses in Balochistan, said Zaher's death marks the ninth such killing reported in just one week.Other persons BYC named on X included Qaim Hayat, Wazeer Khan, Subat Khan, Haider Ali, Khalid Zehri, Masood Baloch, Qadir Bakhsh, and Dolat Baloch — all allegedly victims of Pakistani forces, death squads, or custodial torture.Enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings to suppress Baloch nationalism are a common occurrence in Balochistan.As per the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), an enforced disappearance is an "arrest, detention, abduction or any other form of deprivation of liberty by agents of the State or by persons or groups of persons acting with the authorisation, support or acquiescence of the State, followed by a refusal to acknowledge the deprivation of liberty or by concealment of the fate or whereabouts of the disappeared person, which place such a person outside the protection of the law".advertisementThe ruthless tactic of the Pakistani establishment's playbook, long used on Baloch men, children, and the elderly, is now being unleashed on women also.Mahjabeen Baloch, a 24-year-old, became the latest victim of the Pakistani state's suppression when she was kidnapped in the last week of May.Mahjabeen's disappearance shows a growing pattern in Balochistan, where the targeting of women has increased since the March detention of renowned activist Mahrang Baloch, a development the Baloch Women Forum describes as a deeply troubling intensification of human rights abuses in the province.Even the "death squads" have stepped up their activities, targeting anyone they suspect of having ties to the Baloch freedom movement.The death squads have been frequently linked to the Pakistani military and are reportedly composed of local militias or criminals who suppress dissent through violence. While Pakistan's military denies these allegations, human rights organisations have long documented a pattern of enforced disappearances, torture, and extrajudicial killings in Balochistan.- EndsMust Watch