Baloch Women Forum urges global action over ‘rising enforced disappearances’

The Baloch Women Forum (BWF) has issued an impassioned appeal to the international community, alleging a sustained pattern of human rights violations in Pakistan’s restive Balochistan province — with Baloch women increasingly emerging, it says, as victims of enforced disappearance.

In a strongly worded statement, the forum described the alleged abductions as illegal, morally indefensible and in violation of international human rights norms. It accused Pakistani state institutions of bypassing due process and operating through what it termed “illegal channels of persecution”.

“For years, the indigenous people here have suffered from a humanitarian crisis and war, which continue to this day,” the statement said, alleging that enforced disappearances — widely condemned under international law — have become a “common practice,” alongside what it described as staged encounters and targeted killings.

The forum claimed that in 2025 alone, 17 Baloch women were subjected to enforced disappearance, with another case reported on 13 January. It alleged that 90 per cent of these cases involved direct action by Pakistani security forces, including the Counter-Terrorism Department, while the remaining cases were attributed to Pakistan-backed militias.

Painting a grim portrait of life in the province, the BWF said the people of Balochistan have been pushed to the margins of political and economic life, deprived not only of safety but of basic rights such as employment, education and healthcare. “What they want and fear the most is the right to breathe and dignity,” the statement said.

The forum also criticised sections of the Pakistani media, accusing them of bias and of failing to highlight the plight of Baloch women. It alleged that eyewitness accounts, family protests and documented testimonies have not received adequate national or international coverage.

“Our voice, because it is oppressed, never reaches international media, but only social media,” the group said, calling for global attention, accountability and independent scrutiny.

Urging foreign governments, rights bodies and international observers not to rely solely on secondary sources, the BWF appealed for on-the-ground visits to Balochistan and direct engagement with local communities to better understand what it describes as a deepening humanitarian crisis.

Pakistani authorities have previously denied allegations of systematic enforced disappearances, maintaining that security operations in Balochistan are aimed at countering militancy and ensuring stability in the province.

With IANS inputs