Source: The GuardianThe issue of enforced disappearances constitutes a grave human rights concern worldwide. However, within Pakistan’s largest province, Balochistan, this issue gets entangled in the complex web of sub-nationalist ideology and militancy. Consequently, the gravity of this issue is rendered ambiguous. For instance, Muhammad Kazim, in his article titled “Balochistan’s Missing Persons,” highlights that out of 8381 cases of missing persons reported by the Voice of Baloch Missing Persons, 6163 cases have been dismissed following judicial inquiry. The article further asserts that a significant number of these cases are bogus, as most of the purportedly missing individuals secretly join the banned separatist organizations without telling their families or are simply murdered by these terrorist organizations.
This assertion can be easily validated by numerous incidents. For example, a terrorist named Ghani Khan Marri was killed in an intelligence-based operation at Mach (west of Sibi). Subsequent identification revealed that he was one of the missing persons widely publicized across social media platforms.
Correspondingly, BLA terrorist Hamal Fateh, who attacked the PC Hotel Gwadar, was extensively portrayed as a missing person. Likewise, Engineer Zaheer Baloch, missing since October 2021, was initially believed to have been killed by the security forces in the Ziarat operation. However, it was later revealed that Mr. Baloch had been detained by the Iranian security forces due to an illegal border crossing endeavor. In each of these instances, the families, friends, activists, and organizations like the Voice of Baloch Missing Persons propagated the idea that the state agencies orchestrated the abductions, which garnered local, national, and international support. However, when the façade of missing persons was removed at the cost of innocent human lives, no one stated remorse, thus highlighting the superficiality of their baseless arguments.
Apart from this, it is also argued that the state ends up killing the missing persons and subsequently disposing of their mutilated bodies in the ditches or by the roadside. This claim recently resurfaced when three dead bodies were found in Mand, initially reported by Baloch activists as missing persons. However, the next day, they altered their statements and declared the deceased to be part of the death squad. Subsequently, BLF, the banned terrorist outfit, claimed responsibility for this attack, revealing the tactful strategy of the pro-separatist activists. These actors disseminated extensive propaganda via social media vis-à-vis missing persons, thus minimizing the space for justifications.
Hence, it would be justified to assert that the issue of missing persons in Balochistan is extremely complex and vague, as it is difficult to separate genuine and made-up cases of enforced disappearances in this region. Thus, the campaigns dedicated to addressing enforced disappearances become inherently flawed and heavily influenced by the pro-separatist activists who wield social media to their advantage, manipulating narratives to attract external support. In the end, I will leave my readers to ponder upon an extremely significant question, i.e., why do organizations like Voice of Baloch Missing Persons or pro-separatist activists refrain from highlighting the atrocities of the sub-nationalist outfits, who are involved in disappearing and killing innocent people of Balochistan, and then put the blame on the security forces?
