The Enduring Struggle: Baloch Identity and the Shadow of Disappearance in Pakistan

Imagine, for a moment, living in a place where your very identity, your heritage, makes you a target. For countless Baloch people across Pakistan, this isn't some distant nightmare; it's a harrowing, daily reality. And at the forefront of bringing this painful truth to light stands Sabiha Baloch, a human rights activist whose courage shines brightly amidst the gloom.

Sabiha, a tireless leader of the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) and former chairperson of the Baloch Students Action Committee (BSAC), speaks from a place of deep, personal experience. She paints a stark picture: for many, being Baloch is a "mark of suspicion," leading to systematic repression, drone attacks, brutal raids, and the chilling specter of enforced disappearances. This isn't just happening in the remote corners of Balochistan, but also in bustling urban centers like Karachi, particularly areas such as Maripur and Lyari, and even places like Dera Ghazi Khan.

Her activism, born from her roots in Zawa, Khuzdar District, and nurtured during her medical studies in Quetta, has come at an incredibly steep price. You see, Sabiha's own family has borne the brunt of these tactics. Not long ago, her brother and a cousin were forcibly disappeared – thankfully, they were later released after a terrifying three-month ordeal. But the torment didn't stop there. In a truly heart-wrenching turn, her father, Meer Basheer Ahmed, was abducted by Pakistani forces from Hub, Balochistan, in April 2025. The alleged demand for his release? Sabiha’s surrender. It's a chillingly direct form of reprisal, isn't it?

Her journey as an activist is riddled with further challenges. She's faced arrests and reported police violence during protests, both in Quetta in June 2024 and in Gwadar in July 2024. And, as if that weren't enough, she's been declared an "offender" in a pending court case as of March 2026 and even named a "proscribed individual" under the Anti-Terrorism Act in October 2025. These aren't just legal battles; they're direct attacks on her ability to advocate for her people.

But Sabiha's story, as devastating as it is, is sadly not unique. It mirrors a much larger, systemic crisis plaguing Balochistan – the pervasive issue of enforced disappearances. This tactic, used to quell dissent since the 1970s, has become a defining, utterly heartbreaking feature of the conflict. It's an integral part of the state's counterinsurgency strategy, a grim reality since the early 2000s.

The numbers, when you look at them, are simply staggering. Baloch rights groups estimate that over 5,000 people have been forcibly disappeared and more than a thousand killed in the past two decades alone. Even official figures, often criticized for underreporting, paint a grave picture. The Pakistan Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances (COIED) recorded at least 10,078 cases between 2011 and January 2024, with a significant 2,752 of those occurring in Balochistan. More recently, the Human Rights Council of Balochistan (HRCB) reported 1,482 enforced disappearances and 598 killings in Balochistan in 2025, largely attributed to Pakistani security forces, particularly the Frontier Corps. Just in April 2026, the HRCB documented another 124 enforced disappearances, including eight women and five teenagers, alongside 53 killings. Students, we're told, are among the most targeted, with Kech and Dera Bugti seeing the highest numbers of abductions, often linked to the Frontier Corps.

So, who are the perpetrators? Primarily, Pakistani security forces, especially the Frontier Corps. And who are the targets? Mostly students, activists, journalists, and human rights defenders – anyone who dares to raise their voice. While Baloch separatist militants also commit abuses, the overwhelming majority of documented enforced disappearances are attributed to state actors.

This dire human rights situation hasn't gone unnoticed by the world. International bodies, including the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (WGEID), formally submitted documentation of arbitrary arrests, enforced disappearances, and other violations to the Pakistani government in February 2025, noting a "troubling escalation." Human Rights Watch (HRW) has also documented numerous cases and consistently highlighted Pakistan's failure to halt widespread abuses, including torture, forced disappearances, and extrajudicial killings. Yet, despite this international concern, the suffering, tragically, continues.

The fight for justice is further hampered by a web of obstacles. Internet shutdowns, which plunge entire communities into isolation, combined with the sheer geographic remoteness of many affected areas, make it incredibly difficult to report abuses. And, of course, there's the pervasive intimidation by intelligence agencies, a constant shadow that silences voices and instills fear. It’s a systemic suppression, designed, it seems, to keep the world from truly seeing the depth of this crisis.

In the face of such overwhelming odds, Sabiha Baloch’s unwavering determination, and indeed the resilience of the Baloch people, are nothing short of inspiring. When she says a Baloch identity is a "mark of suspicion," she’s not exaggerating; she's articulating a brutal truth that demands urgent global attention and, most importantly, concrete action to ensure justice and dignity for all.