Mother of Shams Baloch Dies Without Learning Son’s Fate
KHUZDAR, BALOCHISTAN: The mother of Shams Baloch, a former student leader and well-known political figure from Khuzdar, has passed away after years of waiting for news of her son, who has been missing since his enforced disappearance in 2010.
According to accounts from Baloch activists and his family, Shams Baloch was taken into custody by Pakistani state forces at the Mian Ghundi checkpoint in Quetta on 1 July 2010. Since then, his whereabouts have remained unknown, and his family says they have received no official information regarding his fate.
Relatives say his mother spent the last sixteen years enduring the anguish of not knowing whether her son was alive or dead. She died in Khuzdar without receiving any answers about his disappearance.
The case is one of many that rights groups and Baloch organisations cite as part of a broader pattern of enforced disappearances affecting Baloch families. Thousands of Baloch have been subjected to enforced disappearance by Pakistani and Iranian security forces over the years, with many parents, spouses and other relatives passing away before seeing their loved ones again. Authorities in both countries continue systematic enforced disappearances, extrajudicial killings and military offensives in Balochistan.
For families of the missing, the suffering extends far beyond the disappearance itself. The uncertainty surrounding the fate of their loved ones often lasts for years or decades, leaving relatives in a continuous state of grief and psychological distress.
Human rights advocates argue that enforced disappearance punishes not only the disappeared individual but also entire families, who continue to search for answers while living with the emotional and social consequences of unresolved loss.
The death of Shams Baloch’s mother has renewed calls from Baloch activists for independent investigations into unresolved disappearance cases and greater international attention to the issue. Activists argue that continued international silence is allowing the crisis to persist and that Balochistan continues to lose its sons and daughters while countless families wait for truth, justice and accountability.
