Dr. Naseem Baloch, Chairman of the Baloch National Movement (BNM), has said that the family of the party’s former Vice Chairman, Dr. Khudabakhsh Baloch, has been subjected to systematic and relentless collective punishment for years. His elder brother, Qadir Bakhsh Baloch, has been forcibly disappeared for the third time. This is not merely the abduction of an individual; it is a recurring state crime aimed at breaking, intimidating, and silencing an entire family.
Dr. Naseem Baloch said that Qadir Bakhsh Baloch and his sons have endured years of unspeakable persecution and suffering at the hands of the Pakistani state. This is the third time that the head of the family, Qadir Bakhsh Baloch, has been subjected to enforced disappearance. Previously, he and both of his sons were detained by the Pakistani military and taken to torture facilities, where they were subjected to severe physical and psychological abuse before eventually being released.
However, their release did not mean freedom. They were forced to live under constant fear, surveillance, and the ever-present threat of being taken away again. Now, once again, Qadir Bakhsh Baloch has been torn away from his home, his family, and his life. Those he has left behind are forced to live every moment with the anguish of not knowing where their loved one is being held, what condition he is in, or what kind of suffering he may be enduring.
Dr. Naseem Baloch said that the Pakistani state has turned collective punishment into a permanent ordeal imposed upon Baloch national and social life. Across Balochistan, there are now scarcely any days when a home or neighbourhood is not raided or attacked, when a mother is not deprived of her child, or when a child is not separated from their father and a sister from her brother.
Only a handful of families in Balochistan can now be counted among those who have remained untouched by state repression, enforced disappearances, torture, and military aggressions . Here, people are not merely disappeared; entire families are robbed of their sleep, peace, future, and sense of security. Mothers remain startled by every knock and sound at the door for years. Children grow up waiting for their fathers to return. Families are left suspended between life and death, enduring each day the agonising uncertainty of not knowing whether their loved ones are alive or dead.
He said that the Baloch nation will undoubtedly endure these phases of oppression, violence, and state terrorism with courage and resilience. However, those who participate, at any level, in the brutal system of Pakistani colonial rule; those who assist state crimes, whether openly or from behind the scenes; and those who claim to represent the national cause while remaining silent in the face of the cries emerging from Baloch homes will not escape the judgment of history or the accountability of the Baloch nation.
State power may provide them with temporary protection, positions, and privileges, but it cannot erase their role from the collective memory of Baloch society. The day the Baloch nation collectively rejects them, they will have nowhere left on earth to hide their role, their silence, or their complicity in these crimes.
