Pakistan’s Counter-Terrorism Department using new pressure tactics against families of disappeared Baloch

QUETTA: Since the coldblooded murder of five Baloch youth in a staged encounter by the CTD (Counter-Terrorism Department) of Pakistani forces, more Baloch families have complained that the department has been using pressure tactics to coerce them into changing their statements and withdrawing their cases.

Several families of disappeared Baloch complained that the Intelligence Agencies and CTD called them and threaten them to withdraw the cases of the disappearance of their loved ones.

According to Hani Baloch, who has been searching for her abducted fiancé Mohammed Naseem Baloch for the past several months, first, People called families of disappeared Baloch on withheld numbers and threaten them to stop perusing the cases of their loved ones. Now the state forces are attacking them.

Hani Baloch another with her fiancé Mohammad Naseem was abducted from Karachi. She was later released but her fiancé is still in the custody of Pakistani forces. She has been struggling for Naseem Baloch’s recovery like other family members. The Pakistan forces instead of recovering and releasing her fiancé are pressurising her to withdraw the case and stop looking for him.  

Recently on March 11 2021, Hani Baloch had an accident in Karachi and as a result, she sustained injuries on her face but remained safe.

Hani Baloch argues that the state (Pakistan) was pressuring her to withdraw the case of her fiancé Naseem Baloch but she refused. ‘Now the state is trying to kill her.’

It may be recalled that recently, another Baloch social and human rights activist Hooran Baloch also received threatening phone calls from the intelligence agencies.

She had made it clear that if anything happened to her the state would be held responsible.

Meanwhile, the family of abducted Rashid Hussain Baloch has also reported similar pressure tactics by the CTD of state forces.

The family in a statement claimed that they were summoned by Airport Police Station on Monday, March 15, ‘locked up in a room and threatened’ to signs a misleading statement about the disappearance of Rashid Baloch and in case of refusal to sign their loved ones will be harmed.  

The family of Rashid Hussain was asked to sign a pre-written statement by the Counter-Terrorism Department on behalf of Mr Hussain’s mother which read that he has not been forcibly disappeared by UAE intelligence agencies but he was sent back by the company that had employed him to Dalbandin Balochistan.

It was also written in CTD’s false statement that Rashid Hussain had gone missing from Dalbandin and not in Karachi.  

It is pertinent to note that Rashid Hussian was arrested by UAE intelligence agencies on the 26^th of December 2018 and was handed over to Pakistan after six months of illegal confinement in UAE.

Pakistan media at that time quoting Pakistani officials had confirmed Hussian’s arrested in UAE and his extradition to Pakistan.

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