Protests take place across Pakistan against forcible disappearances, killings of Baloch people

Islamabad [Pakistan], August 21 (ANI): Protests are taking place across Pakistan as Baloch families continue to raise their demands against the enforced disappearances and killings of people, the Baloch Yakjehti Committee shared the details on Wednesday.
BYC wrote in a post on X, "From Quetta to Islamabad to Karachi, Baloch families are sitting on roads, in heat, in rain only because the state has left them no other path. Their demand is simple: Stop enforced disappearances. Stop killing our children. Release the missing."
BYC shared details of protests taking place in Quetta, Islamabad and Karachi.
It shared that in Quetta, on August 5, the mother of 17-year-old Ehsan Syed, shot dead by Pakistani forces near Lak Pass, Mastung, set up a protest camp outside Quetta Press Club.
BYC noted that for over 10 days, she sat under the sun, demanding justice for her son. However she faced harassment, intimidation, and surveillance.
BYC added, "On August 15, Quetta police arrested her inside the protest camp -- along with her little daughter. Both were illegally detained, tortured, and later deported back to Mastung."
In Islamabad, on June 14, families of detained Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) leaders along with enforcedly disappeared victim families tried to stage a sit-in outside National Press Club, BYC said. It further noted that the federal police blocked them, using abuse and threats to silence their peaceful protest.
As per BYC the families continued with their demands namely the release of their leaders, ending enforced disappearances and stopping the extrajudicial killings in Balochistan.
In Karachi, outside the Karachi Press Club, the family of Zahid Baloch, a 25-year-old student of International Relations at Karachi University, continued with their sit-in, BYC shared in its post.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱 𝗺𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝘆 𝘀𝗶𝗹𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗮𝘀 𝗕𝗮𝗹𝗼𝗰𝗵𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻 𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗲𝗱𝘀.

From Quetta to Islamabad to Karachi, Baloch families are sitting on roads, in heat, in rain only because the state has left them no other path.

Their demand is simple: Stop… pic.twitter.com/1VeGWOJc5C

— Baloch Yakjehti Committee (@BalochYakjehtiC) August 20, 2025

Enforced disappearances in Balochistan have been a grave human rights issue for decades, rooted in the region's long-standing political and ethnic tensions. For the last several decades, Baloch nationalists, students, activists, and intellectuals have been targeted, allegedly by state security agencies, for demanding greater autonomy or rights. (ANI)