In yet another grim episode highlighting Pakistan’s worsening human rights record in Balochistan, the mutilated bodies of five men were found across three districts, one of whom had previously been “forcibly disappeared”, as reported by The Balochistan Post.
According to The Balochistan Post, the discoveries were made in Panjgur, Khaliqabad and Zehri, further deepening concerns over the increasing number of killings and disappearances in the province. In Panjgur’s Parom tehsil, a body recovered from the Pullabad area was identified as Abdul Wahab, son of Muhammad Omar, a resident of Zamuran in Kech district. Local accounts confirmed that Wahab had been abducted on October 27 by an alleged state-backed “death squad”. He was reportedly shot during the kidnapping, leaving one leg paralysed. After weeks in captivity, his tortured body was found dumped on December 4, Thursday.
Police in the Khaliqabad district discovered three more bodies in the Badrang area. Identification documents recovered from the victims revealed them to be Khuda Bakhsh of Johan, Zahoor Ahmed of Khaliqabad and Barkat Khan of Kashan, all cousins from the Lehri tribe. Meanwhile, in Khuzdar district, another body was found near the roadside in Zehri tehsil’s football ground area. The victim, identified as Shahzaib, son of Muhammad Aslam from Sadiqabad, had been shot dead, local officials stated, as highlighted by The Balochistan Post.
Human rights organisations and activists argue that the systematic recovery of tortured bodies in remote regions reflects a disturbing pattern of enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings allegedly carried out by Pakistan’s security agencies and their proxies. Dozens of victims in recent months were individuals earlier detained by state forces, intensifying fears of custodial violence and state repression in the region, as reported by The Balochistan Post.
(With Inputs from ANI)
