Staged Encounters and Targeted Killings of Disappeared Baloch Intensify Across Balochistan

SHAAL (QUETTA): Pakistani security forces and state-backed death squads have intensified a campaign of extrajudicial violence across Balochistan, executing previously disappeared Baloch individuals in staged encounters. Human rights groups and Baloch activist networks have raised urgent alarms over what they describe as a systematic pattern of state-sanctioned killings aimed at silencing dissent.

Over recent weeks, reports from various districts, particularly in the Makran and Kech regions, have detailed the recovery of mutilated bodies of individuals who had been forcibly disappeared months or even years prior.

These killings are frequently accompanied by official statements claiming that the victims were “militants” killed in armed clashes with security forces. However, families and activists strongly dispute these narratives, saying that these so-called encounters are staged executions designed to erase political voices under the guise of counterterrorism.

67 Days of Protest in Islamabad: Families Demand Justice

Amid this intensifying wave of violence, a sit-in protest in Islamabad has now entered its 67th day. Families of forcibly disappeared persons and supporters of the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) have remained on the streets of Pakistan’s capital, demanding the release of BYC leaders who have been detained for speaking out against the ongoing Baloch genocide.

“These leaders are not criminals, they are political voices, human rights defenders, and representatives of a people who have endured decades of disappearances, killings, and collective punishment,” protesters stated adding that “Their imprisonment is not about law; it is about silencing resistance.”

Despite the peaceful nature of the protest, families, many of them elderly women and children, are being denied the right to set up even basic shelters. They are enduring Islamabad’s harsh late-summer heat while facing harassment from authorities. The Islamabad Press Club, a place historically open to victims and journalists, remains sealed off to them, underscoring what activists call the complicity of state institutions in silencing the Baloch narrative.

Torture, Death, and the Disappearance of Ustad Allah Dad

In a particularly disturbing case, Ustad Allah Dad son of Dostain Baloch and a resident of Soler Ghichk, Panjgur, was abducted by Pakistani forces in the Naag area of Washuk on September 16, 2025.

After four days in illegal detention, his mutilated body was discovered in Panjgur on September 20. His body bore clear signs of brutal physical torture, indicating he was subjected to inhumane treatment before being killed. His killing has sparked outrage and further fuelled demands for international intervention.

Abdul Sattar and Tariq Hamza: Students Killed in Fake Encounters

On September 19, 2025, two more tragic cases emerged from Dasht, Kech.

Abdul Sattar, a 19-year-old photographer and FSc student from Dasht Sholeeg, Gwadar, was forcibly disappeared by Pakistani forces on November 12, 2024.

Despite his family holding a press conference demanding his release, no action was taken. On September 19, nearly ten months after his disappearance, Sattar was killed in a fake encounter along with three other Baloch individuals.

His body, bearing signs of severe torture and bullet wounds, was transferred to Civil Hospital Turbat by Frontier Corps (FC) personnel.

Also among those killed was Tariq Hamza son of Haji Hamza and resident of the same village. Disappeared on the same date as Abdul Sattar in 2024, Tariq’s family had made multiple appeals for information about his whereabouts. Like Sattar, his body also showed clear signs of torture followed by execution-style gunshots.

 International Silence and Calls for Accountability

Activists argue that these killings are not isolated incidents but part of a state policy aimed at suppressing the Baloch people’s struggle for rights, dignity, and autonomy. Despite consistent documentation by rights groups, enforced disappearances, torture, and extrajudicial killings continue largely unchecked, compounded by the silence of international bodies and media blackouts within Pakistan.

The Baloch Yakjehti Committee has reaffirmed its unwavering commitment to resisting all forms of state repression, calling for urgent global attention to what it describes as a slow-motion genocide.