Quetta, Aug 28 (IANS) At least five civilians were forcibly disappeared by Pakistani forces in Balochistan, a leading human rights organisation said on Friday.
Paank, the Baloch National Movement's Human Rights Department, mentioned that 28-year-old Hayat was taken from his home in Dasth Konchti area of Kech district in the early hours of August 26 by personnel from Pakistan’s Counter Terrorism Department (CTD), Frontier Corps (FC), and Military Intelligence (MI).
Expressing grave concern over the continuing practice of enforced disappearances across the province, the rights body said that another student, Agha Gull, a resident of Killi Shah Nawaz area in provincial capital Quetta, was forcibly taken from his home on August 21 by personnel of FC and CTD.
In a separate incident on the same day, Hasnain Imdad, a driver from the Sarawan area of Panjgur district, was forcibly disappeared by CTD and MI personnel.
Additionally, another civilian, Hafeezullah Baloch, a labourer, was taken from Shahwani Stadium in Quetta last month by personnel of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and CTD.
Amid the escalating violence against civilians, 16-year-old Shah Baksh Babo was abducted last month from his home in Sarikalag area in Kech by Pakistani forces.
“The enforced disappearance of these individuals constitutes a grave violation of fundamental human rights and Pakistan’s obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC),” Paank stated.
The rights body called on the Pakistani authorities to immediately disclose the whereabouts and condition of all missing individuals, ensure their access to their families, legal counsel and medical care, and either produce them before a competent court under due process or release them immediately.
It demanded independent and impartial investigations into the involvement of FC, CTD, ISI and MI personnel and urged accountability for those responsible for enforced disappearances across the province.
Balochistan continues to reel under relentless atrocities by the Pakistani forces, marked by enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings of Baloch civilians at an unprecedented level.
--IANS
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