16 years on: Baloch doctor still missing as enforced disappearances by Pakistani forces continue to haunt Balochistan, says Paank

Balochistan [Pakistan], June 29 (ANI): Sixteen years have passed since the enforced disappearance of Dr. Deen Mohammad Baloch, a senior leader of the Baloch National Movement (BNM) and a government medical officer, who was abducted on the night of June 28, 2009, in the Ornach area of Khuzdar, said Paank - the Human Rights Department of the BNM.

According to Paank, at approximately 1:00 AM, Pakistani security personnel in plain clothes stormed the hospital residence where Dr. Deen Mohammad was on duty.

He was beaten, blindfolded, handcuffed, and dragged into a military vehicle. Since then, his whereabouts have remained unknown. His family continues to live in a cycle of agony, uncertainty, and unanswered questions, Paank said.

The abduction of Dr. Deen Mohammad has come to symbolise the wider crisis of enforced disappearances in Balochistan, where thousands have reportedly vanished over the past two decades.

Paank has consistently documented cases of men, women, and even minors being picked up by security forces, often with no warrants or legal process. Many are never seen again.

Enforced disappearances have become a systematic tool of state repression in Balochistan, aimed at silencing political dissent and breaking the will of the people, Paank said. Despite repeated appeals to Pakistani authorities, victims' families have been met with silence or denial, fostering a culture of impunity.

Paank condemned the disappearance of Dr. Deen Mohammad as a gross violation of international human rights standards and called on the United Nations, global civil society, and international human rights bodies to intervene and demand accountability from the Pakistani state.

The organisation emphasised that such silence from the global community only enables further abuses. Paank reiterated its demand for the immediate disclosure of Dr. Deen Mohammad's fate and the safe return of all forcibly disappeared persons in Balochistan.

"This ongoing tragedy marks not only a personal loss for one family but a collective wound for an entire people still fighting for truth and justice in the face of systematic oppression," Paank said. (ANI)

(The story has come from a syndicated feed and has not been edited by the Tribune Staff.)