Enforced disappearances in Pakistan

The practice of enforced disappearance is a global problem that afflicts people in various countries and with different ethnicity, religions and political backgrounds. Although the enforced disappearance is a crime under international law, the U.N. has recorded thousands of disappearances in over 100 countries in recent decade. Some of the countries which are crucially charged with the allegations of enforced disappearances include Iraq, Iran, Sri Lanka, Chile, Ethiopia, Syria, African countries, Bangladesh, India, China, Russia, US and Pakistan.

After the US invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, forced disappearance in Pakistan allegedly began during the rule of military dictator General Pervez Musharraf (1999 to 2008).{{cite web |url=https://www.hrw.org/report/2011/07/28/we-can-torture-kill-or-keep-you-years/enforced-disappearances-pakistan-security |title=We Can Torture, Kill, or Keep You for Years |date=28 July 2011 |work=Human Rights Watch }} Pakistan went under immense terrorist activities. A large number of people became the victim of suicidal attacks. During 'War on Terror', many people were suspected as terrorists and then taken away by Govt agencies.{{cite web |url= http://impunitywatch.com/musharraf-faces-charges-of-human-rights-violations/ |title=Musharraf Faces Charges of Human Rights Violations |author=Shayne R. Burnham |date=28 September 2008 |work=Impunity Watch }}{{cite web |url=https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2007/pakistan |title=Pakistan |date=2007 |work=Freedom House |access-date=2017-01-14 |archive-date=2019-09-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190925101140/https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2007/pakistan |url-status=dead }}{{cite news |title=Where are the disappeared? |url=http://www.dawn.com/news/1071504 |newspaper=Dawn |date=30 August 2008 |author=Irene Khan|author-link=Irene Khan }} Many of them were then handed over to the United States authorities to be imprisoned in the Guantanamo Bay's Camp X-Ray. After Musharaf resigned in August 2008, he was charged with various human rights violations.

According to Amina Masood Janjua, a human rights activist and chairperson of Defence of Human Rights Pakistan, there are more than 5,000 reported cases of forced disappearance in Pakistan.Defence of Human Rights Pakistan is a not for profit organization working against forced disappearance in Pakistan. The families of missing persons have also staged protest across Pakistan demanding to know the whereabouts their missing family members.{{cite web |title=Families of country's 'disappeared' beaten in Islamabad protest |url=https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/news/2007/01/02/families-country%E2%80%99s-%E2%80%98disappeared%E2%80%99-beaten-islamabad-protest |website=The New Humanitarian |language=en |date=2 January 2007}}{{cite web |last1=Shah |first1=Syed Ali |title=Missing persons' relatives suspend protest after 10 years following Balochistan govt assurances |url=https://www.dawn.com/news/1457913 |website=DAWN.COM |language=en |date=16 January 2019}}

Image:Missing persons consultation Quetta Pakistan.jpg Press Club]]

{{Further|Insurgency in Balochistan|Missing Baloch students case}}

Most of the cases of forced disappearances in recent year were reported in Pakistan's Balochistan province which has been witnessing a low-level insurgency for more than a decade and a half. According to Voice for Baloch Missing Persons (VBMP) around 528 Baloch people have gone missing from 2001 to 2017.

In October 2024 itself, 99 enforced disappearances were reported and only about 29 individuals were reportedly released after detention. The average number of disappearances for October was over three per day.{{Cite news |last=Antonopoulos |first=Paul |title=Enforced Disappearances in Balochistan in October 2024 – TBP Report |url=https://greekcitytimes.com/2024/11/08/383337/ |access-date=11 November 2024}}

A senior Pakistani provincial security official says that missing person figures are 'exaggerated', that 'in Balochistan, insurgents, immigrants who fled to Europe and even those who have been killed in military operations are declared as missing persons'.{{cite web|url=https://www.thenational.ae/world/asia/thousands-vanish-without-a-trace-in-pakistan-s-restive-balochistan-1.800511|title=Thousands vanish without a trace in Pakistan's restive Balochistan|date=8 December 2018|work=The National|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181208182526/https://www.thenational.ae/world/asia/thousands-vanish-without-a-trace-in-pakistan-s-restive-balochistan-1.800511|archive-date=8 December 2018|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}} Reports have shown that many people have fled the province to seek asylum in other countries because of the unrest caused by separatist militants.

Similarly separatist militants have also been found responsible for forced disappearances cases. Separatist militants usually wear military uniform while carrying out their militant activities. Hence they often get mistaken as security officials.{{cite web|url=https://edition-m.cnn.com/2019/04/18/asia/pakistan-balochistan-bus-killings-intl/index.html|title=Pakistan militants execute 14 bus passengers|quote=Militants wearing security force uniforms stopped two buses in southwest Pakistan on Thursday and killed 14 passengers after ordering them out of the vehicles, police said.|date=18 April 2019|work=CNN}}

• Masood Ahmed Janjua (Husband of Amina Masood Janjua)
• Safdar Sarki
• Saud Memon
• Aafia Siddiqui and her three children
• Hafiz Abdul Basit
• Muzafar Bhutto
• Hasani, a barber, along with Mohammad Hafeez and Murtaza, were forcibly disappeared and later found dead on a Monday morning of late April 2011. Their bullet-riddled bodies showed signs of severe torture, with each shot in the head and chest. The Baloch Republican Party blamed government forces for the killings.{{Cite web |last=Baloch |first=Shezad |date=2011-04-25 |title=Baloch missing persons: Trussed-up bodies of five men found |url=https://tribune.com.pk/story/156833/baloch-missing-persons-trussed-up-bodies-of-five-men-found |access-date=2025-02-14 |website=The Express Tribune |language=en}}
• Zareef, kidnapped on April 17, 2011, from a passenger coach near Nialat, and Mohammad Shameem, who went missing six days prior, were found dead in a deserted area in Kech district on April 26, 2011.
• Abdul Wahid Baloch, a telephone operator at the Civil Hospital Karachi and a Baloch activist, disappeared on July 26, 2016, after being detained by unknown men near Karachi. Despite his family's efforts, including legal actions, his whereabouts remain unknown, with suspicions of involvement by intelligence agencies due to his political affiliations.{{Cite web |last=Kaleem |first=Moosa |date=2016-11-14 |title=A Baloch activist's puzzling disappearance |url=https://herald.dawn.com/news/1153589 |access-date=2025-02-18 |website=Herald Magazine |language=en}}
• Zeenat Shahzadi, a 24-year-old female journalist who was investigating a disappearance case, was allegedly abducted by some armed personnel on 19 August 2015 and went missing.{{cite web |url=https://www.amnesty.org/en/press-releases/2016/08/where-is-zeenat-shahzadi/ |title=Pakistan: Where Is Zeenat Shahzadi? |date=30 August 2016 |work=Amnesty International}} Her disappearance caused her younger brother to commit suicide. She was later recovered from near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border in October 2017.{{Cite web|url=https://www.dawn.com/news/1365073|title='Missing' journalist Zeenat Shahzadi recovered after more than 2 years|last=Dawn.com|date=2017-10-20|website=DAWN.COM|language=en|access-date=2019-07-27}}
• In early January 2017, five social media activists – Salman Haider, Ahmad Waqass Goraya, Aasim Saeed, and Ahmad Raza Naseer – went missing from different parts of Pakistan.{{cite web |title=State crackdown on dissent feared as four secularist activists 'disappear' in Pakistan |url=http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/state-crackdown-dissent-feared-four-secularist-activists-disappear-pakistan-1600362 |date=11 January 2017 |author=Tareq Haddad |work=International Business Times |publisher=IBTimes Co., Ltd}}{{cite news |title=Fears of online crackdown loom large after 'abduction' of 4 bloggers |url=http://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2017/01/11/fears-of-online-crackdown-in-pakistan/ |newspaper=Pakistan Today |date=11 January 2017 |access-date=13 January 2017 }}{{cite news |title=Rights Groups Ask Pakistan to Probe Disappearance of Activists |url=https://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2017/01/10/rights-groups-ask-pakistan-to-probe-disappearance-of-activists/ |newspaper=The Wall Street Journal |date=10 January 2017 |author=Qasim Nauman}}{{cite news |title=Second missing Pakistani blogger found, leaves country, says family |url=http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/world/2017/01/29/Second-missing-Pakistani-blogger-found-leaves-country-fearing-for-life-family.html |newspaper=Al Arabia |date=29 January 2017 }} Salman Haider was also a poet and academic. However, after few days, all of the bloggers returned to their homes. Their families confirmed their return and reported that all of the bloggers were unharmed.{{cite web|url=https://www.dawn.com/news/1313745|title=Abducted blogger breaks silence: 'We want a Pakistan with rule of law'|date=9 February 2017|work=Dawn}}
• Dr. Deen Muhammad Baloch
• Zakir Majeed of the Baloch Students Federation was abducted on 8 June 2009.{{Cite journal |date=2021 |title=THE DEVASTATING IMPACT OF ENFORCED DISAPPEARANCES IN PAKISTAN |url=https://www.amnesty.org/en/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/ASA3349922021ENGLISH.pdf |journal=Living Ghosts |publisher=Amnesty International Ltd. |page=25}}
• Faseeh Baloch and Sohail Baloch, students at the University of Balochistan in Quetta, went missing on 1 November 2021. The incident also triggered a month-long protest by the Baloch Student Organization (BSO).{{Cite web |title=Balochistan's Students Protest Enforced Disappearances |url=https://thediplomat.com/2021/12/balochistans-students-protest-enforced-disappearances/ |access-date=2024-11-11 |website=thediplomat.com |language=en-US}}
• Faqeer Jan, Asa Baloch, Abid Hussain, and Masti Khan. Faqeer Jan and Asa Baloch were killed in a staged encounter in November 2024. Abid Hussain and Masti Khan’s mutilated bodies were found in December 2024, after being missing since 2017 according to Human Rights Council of Balochistan.{{Cite web |last=HRCB |date=2024-12-03 |title=Four previously Disappeared Persons Executed in Staged Encounters Over Two Days |url=https://hrcbalochistan.com/four-previously-disappeared-persons-executed-in-staged-encounters-over-two-days/ |access-date=2025-02-18 |website=Human Rights Council of Balochistan |language=en-US}}
• Anas Ahmed, a 15-year-old from Khuzdar, Balochistan, was allegedly taken by military personnel in January 2025 from the Guzgi area, prompting protests and a sit-in by his family and locals demanding his release and information.{{Cite web |title=Protests intensify after enforced disappearance of teenager in Balochistan |url=https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/world/protests-intensify-after-enforced-disappearance-of-teenager-in-balochistan/ |access-date=2025-02-14 |website=The Tribune |language=en}}
• Shoaib Ali, Haneef, Ishfaq, Shahzad, Bebarg Ameer, Zubair, Qambar Ali, and Saeedullah, all from Balochistan, disappeared on October 16, 2024, from their shared residence in Gulistan-i-Jauhar, with their families alleging they were taken by law enforcement agencies.{{Cite web |last=Ali |first=Waqas |date=2024-10-22 |title=Eight Baloch students go ‘missing’ from shared residence in Karachi |url=https://www.dawn.com/news/1866780 |access-date=2025-02-14 |website=DAWN.COM |language=en}}
• Hayat Sabzal Baloch, abducted by Pakistani soldiers on July 3, 2024, was found dead in Panjgur on February 12, 2025. His family had protested his disappearance, and although authorities promised his safe return, his body was discovered months later under tragic circumstances.{{Cite web |last=ANI |date=2025-02-12 |title=Pakistan: Body of missing Baloch youth found in Panjgur as protests intensifies |url=https://theprint.in/world/pakistan-body-of-missing-baloch-youth-found-in-panjgur-as-protests-intensifies/2490561/ |access-date=2025-02-18 |website=ThePrint |language=en-US}}

Some have reported to have been handed over to the CIA and/or flown to Bagram, Afghanistan and later shipped off to Guantanamo Bay. Reports of forced abductions by the Pakistani state first began arising in 2001, in the aftermath of the United States invasion of Afghanistan and the commencement of the US-led War on Terror.{{cite book|title=Denying the Undeniable: Enforced Disappearances in Pakistan|year=2008|publisher=Amnesty International Publications|url=https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/asa33/018/2008/en/}} Many of the missing persons are activists associated with the Baloch nationalist and Sindhi nationalist movements.

Between August 2010 and April 2011, 140 people were forcibly disappeared and later found dead with bullet wounds. Family members blamed security personnel for the killings and dumping of the bodies, according to VBMP chairperson Nasurllah Baloch.

In a news report by The Express Tribune, Mama Qadeer Baloch claimed that 21,000 Baloch are missing in Balochistan, and they have received the dead bodies of people.{{Cite news |date=2015-04-16 |title=Raising his voice: 21,000 missing in Balochistan, says Mama Qadeer |url=https://tribune.com.pk/story/871142/raising-his-voice-21000-missing-in-balochistan-says-mama-qadeer |access-date=2024-06-05 |work=The Express Tribune |language=en |archive-url= |archive-date=}}

In November 2023, the Islamabad High Court addressed the case of 69 Baloch students who had been subjected to ethnic profiling, harassment, and enforced disappearances by state institutions. Despite some students having returned home, 50 remained missing. The court criticized the lack of action from the government and summoned key officials, including the Prime Minister, to explain the failure to resolve the issue.{{Cite web |date=2025-02-17 |title=69 Baloch students subjected to ethnic profiling, harassment, forced disappearance: IHC |url=https://www.samaa.tv/208735109-69-baloch-students-subjected-to-ethnic-profiling-harassment-forced-disappearance-ihc |access-date=2025-02-17 |website=www.samaa.tv |language=en}}

Jan Achakzai Pakistan government official made a momentous statement, announcing that 2,200 missing people had been found in the province. During his regular media conference, the minister announced that 2,200 of the 2,700 people who had been reported missing in Balochistan had been reunited with their families. He did not go into great depth about these results. Achakzai stated that 468 people are now still missing in Balochistan. In comparison, he mentioned startling amounts of missing individuals in other countries, including 350,000 in India, 500,000 in the United States, and one lakh in the United Kingdom.{{Cite news |date=2024-01-12 |title=2,200 missing persons 'found' in Balochistan |url=https://tribune.com.pk/story/2452846/2200-missing-persons-found-in-balochistan |access-date=2024-06-05 |work=The Express Tribune |language=en |archive-url= |archive-date=}}

The cases of forced disappearances were criticized by human rights organizations and the media. They have urged the government of Pakistan to probe these incidents. In 2011, a Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances was formed, but there was little progress in the investigation.{{cite news |title=Disappearances still a major issue |url=http://www.dawn.com/news/1279694/disappearances-still-a-major-issue |newspaper=Dawn |date=25 August 2016 |author=I. A. Rehman}}

In January 2021, the Islamabad High Court, after hearing a petition on a disappearance case from 2015, ruled that the prime minister of Pakistan and his cabinet were responsible for the state’s failure to protect its citizens “because the buck stops at the top.” The court also termed enforced disappearances as “the most heinous crime and intolerable.”{{cite web |title=End Pakistan's Enforced Disappearances |url=https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/03/22/end-pakistans-enforced-disappearances |website=Human Rights Watch |language=en |date=22 March 2021}}

Pakistan has grappled with a persistent issue of enforced disappearances, which has marred its human rights reputation for a considerable period of time. Despite assurances from successive administrations to outlaw this practice, progress in enacting relevant legislation has been sluggish, leaving individuals vulnerable to forced disappearances without any accountability for the perpetrators.{{Cite web |date=2021-08-29 |title=Pakistan: Authorities must deliver on pledge to end cruelty of enforced disappearances |url=https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2021/08/pakistan-authorities-must-deliver-on-pledge-to-end-cruelty-of-enforced-disappearances/ |access-date=2023-06-20 |website=Amnesty International |language=en}} Since the outset of its occupation, the Pakistani state has resorted to enforced disappearances as a means to suppress the oppressed population of Balochistan, marking a prolonged history of such occurrences. This systematic practice has been employed to silence the voices within the region.{{Cite web |title=Long history of enforced disappearances in Balochistan |url=https://www.bignewsnetwork.com/news/266246480/long-history-of-enforced-disappearances-in-balochistan |access-date=2023-06-22 |website=Big News Network.com |language=en}}

In 2011, a Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances was formed by the government of Pakistan to investigate the cases of forced disappearances in the country. According to Amnesty International, the commission has so far received 3,000 cases of such disappearances. By 2021, the Commission reports that it has received 7,000 cases of forced disappearance since its inception and it has resolved around 5,000 of those cases.

In June 2021, the Pakistan's interior minister introduced a bill in National Assembly of Pakistan which criminalized enforced disappearance in the country with 10-year imprisonment for anyone found guilty of it.{{cite web |title=Bill criminalising enforced disappearance introduced in NA |url=https://tribune.com.pk/story/2304170/bill-criminalising-enforced-disappearance-introduced-in-na |website=The Express Tribune |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210720083942/https://tribune.com.pk/story/2304170/bill-criminalising-enforced-disappearance-introduced-in-na |archive-date=20 July 2021 |language=en |date=8 June 2021 |url-status=live}} The bill was later passed by National Assembly of Pakistan in November 2021.{{cite web |title=Passes Bill Criminalizing Protection Of Journalists And Enforced Disappearances - IG News |url=https://irshadgul.com/passes-bill-criminalizing-protection-of-journalists-and-enforced-disappearances/ |website=irshadgul.com |date=8 November 2021}}{{cite web |title=NA passes journalists Protection Bill, five other bills: Dr Mazari |url=https://www.app.com.pk/national/na-passes-journalists-protection-bill-five-other-bills-dr-mazari/ |website=Associated Press of Pakistan |date=13 November 2021}}

• Forced disappearance
• Enforced disappearance of Mushtaq Mahar
• Gun politics in Pakistan
• Human rights in Pakistan
• Target killings in Pakistan

{{reflist|2}}

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Category:Extrajudicial killings in Pakistan

Category:Human rights abuses in Pakistan

Category:Targeted killings in Pakistan

Category:Torture in Pakistan