Latest news with #ZeeshanZaheer
&w=3840&q=100)
First Post
07-07-2025
- Politics
- First Post
Has Pakistan unleashed ‘death squad' on Balochistan? Activist questions killing of Baloch campaigner
In a conversation with Firstpost, an activist from the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) gave details on the alleged abduction and killing of Zeeshan Zaheer, and also about the rise of Pakistan-backed 'Death Squads' in Balochistan. read more On the doomed morning of June 30, the family of Zeeshan Zaheer found the dead body of the Baloch activist, a day after he was allegedly abducted by a state-backed 'death squad'. The young man, Zeeshan Ahmed who changed his name to Zeeshan Zaheer, after his father disappeared when he was 11, and was demanding the release of his father while waiting for admission in a university. It was at this juncture, he was swept away by the notorious Pakistani security nexus. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Zeeshan's father Zaheer Ahmed was abducted by Pakistan's Frontier Corps in 2015, while his sister Adeeba was a newborn. Local media reports said Zeeshan went missing on June 29, and his body was recovered the next day. In a conversation with Firstpost, a prominent Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) activist, who requested anonymity citing security concerns, shared details about the case and alleged that Pakistani state-backed 'death squads' have taken over Balochistan. A son's search for his father ends on a bad note The BYC activist told Firstpost that Zeeshan, along with his sister Adeeba, was a prominent Baloch activist. They were campaigning for the peaceful release of their father. 'They were raising their voices, joining protests and taking part in every single rally. Zeeshan was an active part of the Long March that was carried out in November 2023 against four disappearances. During March, he was assaulted and became a target of violence,' the Baloch activist told Firstpost. The BYC member detailed what happened the day he was abducted. 'He has been vocal about all types of enforced disappearances every day. A few days ago, Zeeshan was coming from a football match, where he played as the goalkeeper. After the match, he was on his way home when, in the middle, state-backed death squads, a private militia of the state, came in a black vehicle, with dark-tinted glasses, abducted Zeeshan,' she said. Soon after the news reached Zeeshan's family, they started protesting on the highway and blocking any kind of transportation, the BYC activist told Firstpost. 'Unfortunately, the next morning, they were called by the police, and Zeeshan's family found his body filled with bullets near their house,' the Baloch activist said. The horrors of 'Death Squads' in Balochistan During the conversation with Firstpost, the Baloch activist spoke about the rise of state-backed death squads in the region. 'In Balochistan, the state is not only using security forces and police to kill and intimidate people, but they are also using illegal ways by supporting private militias and villains of the society to do the same,' the activist said. 'These villains get money and every resource they need from the state, and they can pick up anyone, they can kill anyone. So, this way, the state avoids criticisms.' 'Before this, the state itself was using the methods of the death squad. The people who are part of these squads are Baloch people, they are actually from our society, but they are like villains, they are like serious killers, so such people need to be in prison,' she said. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD The Baloch activist maintained that these 'death squad' members are open to 'kidnap anyone, they can kill anyone, they can, if they like a woman, they can abduct a woman, they can do anything they want, they rape anyone, no police or institution can take actions against them'. 'They are the favourite people of ISI, they have been committing a lot of war crimes for 15-20 years. They also state find it convenient because they don't need to do so much, no need to pay a lot.' The BYC activist said these death squad members have engaged in smuggling drugs and other illegal activities. Zeeshan is one of many Baloch civilians who have lost their lives at the hands of these death squads, the activist said.
India Today
02-07-2025
- Politics
- India Today
Baloch man, protesting dad's kidnap by Pak forces for 10 years, found dead now
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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 disappearances and extrajudicial killings to suppress Baloch nationalism are a common occurrence in 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 Baloch, a 24-year-old, became the latest victim of the Pakistani state's suppression when she was kidnapped in the last week of 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 the "death squads" have stepped up their activities, targeting anyone they suspect of having ties to the Baloch freedom 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
