In a chilling escalation of violence in Pakistan’s Balochistan province, the body of 17-year-old Yahya Baloch was discovered in the Washbood area of Panjgur district. The grim find came after he had been missing for five months, allegedly abducted by Pakistani security forces. Human rights group Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) confirmed the recovery on Tuesday, labeling it yet another extrajudicial killing amid a surge in enforced disappearances.
The province has become a hotspot for such atrocities, with civilians vanishing without trace and turning up dead. BYC highlighted that these incidents persist even during Ramadan, underscoring a deepening human rights crisis. ‘This is not an isolated case but a glaring reflection of the ongoing violations in Balochistan,’ the group stated, urging the United Nations and global watchdogs to investigate and hold perpetrators accountable.
Adding to the tally, Baloch National Movement’s human rights wing ‘Pank’ reported at least nine civilians forcibly disappeared by the Pakistani army in recent days. Among them was 17-year-old student Shoaib Ahmad Kambrani, snatched from his home in Quetta’s Killi Kambrani by the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) on Monday.
In a separate raid the same day, Frontier Corps (FC) personnel allegedly took 45-year-old businessman Rahim Bakhsh from his residence in Minaj area of Kech district. FC also abducted four more Baloch youths from the same locality: 17-year-old Ali Ahmad, 19-year-old Yasir, 17-year-old Asif, and 18-year-old Abdul Rehman.
Earlier incidents include the disappearance of two brothers, Zakariya and Rehan, during an FC-CTD raid on their home in Turbat on February 26. Additionally, 18-year-old student Saddam was picked up by CTD from Brewery Road in Quetta on February 16. These events paint a picture of systematic targeting of Baloch civilians, fueling outrage and calls for international intervention.