Land of the missing

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s Muslim families gathered together to celebrate Eid al-Adha recently, crowds showed up in front of the Quetta Press Club in the capital of Pakistan’s Balochistan province. The crowds were mostly made up of families as well, but they were in no mood to celebrate; instead, they had gone there to protest. They all had at least one family member who had been a victim of enforced disappearance, which meant, they said, that their happiness had also vanished.

“Eid celebrations are intended for those who can do so with their families,” one of the protesters told Asia Democracy Chronicles (ADC), “but for us, it brings tears and memories of our loved ones.”

Enforced disappearance refers to the unlawful detention or arrest of individuals by state security forces or intelligence agencies, as well as by persons whose actions are sanctioned or tolerated by the state. The United Nations has called enforced disappearance “a particularly heinous and complex violation of multiple human rights and an international crime.” But it continues to occur worldwide and is usually carried out by governments attempting to silence critics or neutralize militant groups. According to Amnesty International, enforced disappearance can also be “a strategy to spread terror within society, noting that the “feeling of insecurity and fear it generates is not limited to the close relatives of the disappeared, but also affects communities and society as a whole.”

In Pakistan, records from the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances (COIOED) reveal that between March 2011 (when the Commission was founded) and January 2023, it handled 9,294 cases. Of this number, 2,192 or about 24 percent came from Balochistan in the country’s southwest alone. In fact, COIOED’s secretary Farid Ahmad Khan said that between February and May this year, 311 more cases have been reported from Balochistan.

Rights advocates say, however, that actual figures could be much more. They say that many families refrain from filing a report on a missing loved one either because of fear or because they simply see no benefit in doing so. Some families even receive a direct warning that their missing relative would not be released if they report the incident.

Balochistan’s case

The issue of enforced disappearances in Balochistan has been a longstanding concern. When news of such disappearances there started to circulate in the early 2000s, it drew a great deal of attention from the public. But up till now, authorities have yet to act on the worsening problem. A bill that would have criminalized enforced disappearance is now said to be in parliamentary limbo. Habib Tahir, vice chairperson of the non-profit Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), says that the bill has itself “disappeared.”

Human Rights Council of Balochistan (HRCB) spokesperson Abdullah Abbas says that the pattern of enforced disappearances in Balochistan is not fixed, and changes time and again. Initially, political activists and militants were the main targets, especially in the interior, where the military has a strong grip.

Balochistan has had a long history of grievances against the federal government. Baloch nationalists have long wanted more autonomy and representation in politics because they have felt exploited and marginalized. For one, while the province is rich in natural resources, it has not been able to benefit from these. By 2000, the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) emerged, intending to gain more autonomy for Balochistan, if not establishing a separate state altogether.

Victims of enforced disappearances in Balochistan, however, have since expanded from militants and perceived BLA sympathizers to members of their families, students, rights advocates, and a sizable number of individuals who were kidnapped, particularly during military operations, for unclear reasons.

Some observers, though, see several cases of the disappeared as having ties with mega infrastructure projects in the province. They say authorities used coercive tactics against the villages located in the path of these projects, forcing residents to leave their homes. But some stayed because of financial limitations; several of them ended up either being kidnapped or having their homes set on fire, putting more pressure on them to leave.

A survivor’s story

A 23-year-old Baloch who survived an enforced disappearance meanwhile says that he still doesn’t know why he was taken away six years ago. But he says, “People in Balochistan who dare to speak out against injustices or pursue a good education as a means of combating injustices are frequently the targets of state-sponsored abductions. It’s possible that my association with politically active relatives and because I went from my village to Karachi for quality education may have contributed to my abduction.”

“I will never forget the night when the rangers took me forcefully from my house,” he recounts. “I was beaten mercilessly all night with a chain made of steel. “I was then tied with handcuffs, made to stand up, and prohibited to sleep for roughly 17 to 18 days. If I yawned or showed any sign of fatigue, the violence worsened. The captors used a variety of torture techniques, including electric shocks and beatings using an object made of tires called ‘chitter.’ The harsh cold weather conditions and insufficient cool water supply made the situation worse. The extent of their torturing techniques cannot be expressed in words.”

He says that his abductors also threatened to harm his family. They demanded that he identify himself as a BLA member and tried to make him confess that he had been trained in the mountain areas and had gone into the city to encourage and mobilize people for Balochistan’s liberation.

In the end, his abductors decided to release him after failing to find proof to support their accusations. But they told him that he had to remain within the boundaries of Balochistan and Karachi in Sindh province, with restricted freedom of movement to other locations.

The enforced disappearance survivor has yet to return to his family because of ongoing threats in his community. He has also quit school.

“It was one of the most terrible experiences of my life,” he says. “My physical wounds have healed, but my mental trauma is incurable.”

Missing the missing

And yet he could be considered lucky. Many of the disappeared never resurface, while others turn up dead. While COIOED data indicate that 1,484 of those reported as missing between March 2011 and January 2023 were able to reunite with their families, 35 bodies believed to be those of enforced disappearance victims were found.

Families of those who remain missing say that they are in a never-ending purgatory. Without knowing whether their loved one is dead or alive, they cannot even mourn.

“My father was abducted when I was 11 years old,” says Sammi Deen Baloch, an activist from Balochistan’s remote district of Awaran Mashkay. “We immediately submitted a First Information Report (FIR) at the nearby police station in Ornach, Balochistan, following the incident. My family and I went to the High Court of Balochistan, where we submitted a petition in search of justice. We attended hearings for nearly two years and also approached the commission dedicated to addressing cases of forced disappearances.”

Now 25 years old, Sammi, together with  the relatives of other missing persons, has participated in peaceful protests and hunger strikes in different parts of the country, including in major cities like Quetta, Karachi, and Islamabad. They have also filed appeals to the judiciary and rights organizations. Through social media, they share the stories of the families of the disappeared.  At one point, they marched for three months from Quetta to Karachi, and then onward to Islamabad, hoping their voices would be heard in the Pakistani capital. But their efforts have yet to yield any appreciable outcomes.

In the middle of one night in 2009, Sammi’s father, Dr. Deen Baloch, was forcibly taken by state agents from the hospital where he worked. At the time, he was a politically active member of the Baloch National Movement. Through various platforms, he had fearlessly spoken out against the injustices occurring in the province. He had received threats before being kidnapped, but he persisted in speaking up and demanding that people’s rights be respected. His family has yet to get any information about him since his abduction.

“As we sleep, eat, or perform the most basic tasks each day, we suffer constantly because we are burdened with concerns for the well-being of our loved ones,” says Sammi, speaking as well for relatives of others who have disappeared. “The uncertainty about whether they are alive or dead, and the horrifying instances of torture and brutality we have heard from those who have been released inflicting immense pain that never goes away from our lives.”

Let down by the legal system

Imran Baloch, an advocate at the High Court of Quetta, says that the families of the disappeared have a right to file an FIR. But, he says, relevant authorities purposefully delay reporting such cases. This delay serves the interests of the government and allows the prosecution to create excuses, he argues. And when the case is eventually officially reported and the family nominates a group as the culprit, the authorities reject their claims.

Families seeking justice go through difficult times, especially during writ petitions, and face harassment, the advocate. They are frequently referred to the COIOED by the high court, but the commission refers them back to the high court.

Imran adds that despite many instances where there is proof of kidnappings committed by state actors, courts have failed to take action. He points out that when the missing person is found, the joy and relief of his or her family is watered down by the fact that no commission, committee, judiciary, or organization conducts investigations into the abductors and the reasons behind the abduction, how the person was treated while in captivity, or even the circumstances leading to the recovery of the disappeared.

“It’s unfortunate to see how weak our judicial system is,” says HRCP’s Tahir. He laments “the existence of these designated commissions, which pay people to work and receive salaries without producing any notable results and produce reports on recoveries, without actually being responsible for the recoveries themselves.

“Instead,” he says, “they engage in short-term disappearances, releasing some individuals while others remain disappeared.” ◉