HRCP alarmed over enforced disappearance reports

LAHORE: The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) is alarmed by reports of a fresh wave of enforced disappearances in Balochistan and the rest of the country, including most recently, Hafeez Baloch, a postgraduate student of Quaid-i-Azam University in Islamabad.

In a statement issued Wednesday, HRCP said, “Baloch allegedly disappeared while in Khuzdar, where he volunteers at a local school. Reports suggest that he was abducted in front of his students.

The sheer brazenness of this act underscores the increasing impunity accorded to perpetrators. Baloch must be recovered immediately and the perpetrators identified and held accountable.

“Regrettably, the government’s earlier pledge to criminalise enforced disappearances continues to ring hollow. Two students of Balochistan University allegedly disappeared last November, but an extended sit-in by students at the university was met with little more than vague assurances that they would be recovered.

“HRCP is particularly concerned by the continuing shroud of silence over enforced disappearances in the province, which remains deliberately cut off from the mainstream media. The state must understand that it cannot expect to resolve the legitimate grievances of the Baloch people if it is not prepared to let these grievances see the light of day,” the statement concluded.