Quetta: Several leading human rights organisations on Saturday strongly condemned the arrest of Baloch activist Fozia Baloch, a member of the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC), by Karachi police.
Her arrest comes following the enforced disappearance of her brother, Dadshah Baloch, who was allegedly taken from his home on April 21 by Pakistani security forces.
Since then his whereabouts have remained unknown, while the family’s attempt to register a case was reportedly denied by the police.
According to the BYC, Fozia, along with her family members, arrived at the Karachi press club on Saturday to hold a press conference, when she was detained and shifted to an unknown location.
Condemning the arrest, the BYC called on the Pakistani authorities to release Fozia and her brother immediately. It urged international humanitarian organisations to hold Pakistani authorities accountable for violating fundamental human rights laws.
Paank, the Baloch National Movement’s Human Rights Department, described the incident as part of a broader pattern of silencing victims’ families and obstructing access to justice.
Expressing concern over Fozia’s arrest, the Baloch Voice for Justice (BVJ) said, “Public space for dissent is being reduced at an alarming pace. Families who seek answers face restrictions, intimidation, and denial of basic rights. Peaceful efforts to highlight enforced disappearances are being blocked, which reflects an intent to control the narrative and avoid scrutiny.”
Earlier on Thursday, the Baloch Students Organization Azad (BSO-Azad) accused Pakistani authorities of employing various tactics to normalise the enforced disappearance of Baloch women.
According to the group’s central spokesperson Sholan Baloch, enforced disappearances have long been routine in Balochistan but are now increasingly targeting women. He alleged that the “sanctity of the veil and the four walls is violated”, with women subjected to what he described as collective punishment.
“This year alone, nearly two dozen Baloch women have been forcibly disappeared from various cities and towns in Balochistan, including Quetta, Karachi, Hub, Khuzdar, Kech, Awaran, Greshk, Dalbandin, Tajaban, and other areas, where they are being subjected to extreme inhuman torture in torture cells, while several women are being threatened and subjected to media trials to allow this tyrannical state to weaken the ongoing freedom movement in Balochistan through false narratives—but this is vocal proof of their defeat,” he stated.
Sholan claimed that the daily enforced disappearance of women in Balochistan is part of “conspiracies” to render Baloch society “barren and numb”, alleging that by distorting the Baloch social structure and undermining traditions, Pakistan seeks to sustain what he termed an “illegitimate occupation”.
(IANS)
