Families of missing persons in Balochistan protest on Eid day demanding release of loved ones

Families of missing persons in Pakistan's Balochistan protested in Quetta on Sunday (11 July) to demand the release of their loved ones, reports the ANI citing The Balochistan Post.

Hoping for a reunion with the missing family members, people took to the streets on Sunday, which was the first day of Eid-ul-Azha, carrying banners and placards. The Balochistan Post shared pictures of the protesting families.

With a spike in the number of enforced disappearances in Balochistan in the past few months, there is not even a single family in the province whose member or a relative has not been forcibly disappeared, said International Forum for Rights and Security (IFFRAS) -  a Canada-based think tank.

The report suggests that it is a crime that is often used by the authorities to get rid of people that are considered a "nuisance" without any arrest warrant, charge or prosecution. The victims of these abductions, who are often the youth, women, children, and elderlies, are described by Amnesty International as people "who have literally disappeared."  The organisation states that the authorities grab the victims from the streets or their homes and later refuse to say where they are.

The report added that tens of thousands of Baloch people have been kidnapped by the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and Pakistani Army personnel in the last 20 years. Several victims have been killed and dumped and it is believed that many of them are still confined in the Pakistani torture cells.

A majority of the students are kept in extra-judicial custody after they are picked up during raids on houses and hostels.