Balochistan, Jan 21 : A leading human rights organisation has rejected the Balochistan provincial government’s claim that the issue of missing persons has been “resolved on a permanent basis,” calling the statement false and inconsistent with ground realities.
The Human Rights Council of Balochistan (HRCB) said the claim, issued following a provincial cabinet meeting on Tuesday, amounts to a “grave misrepresentation of facts” as families across the province continue to search for relatives who were forcibly disappeared.
In its 2025 findings, the HRCB documented 1,455 cases of enforced disappearance, including 1,443 men and 12 women. Of these cases, 1,052 individuals remain missing, 317 were released, 83 died in custody and three were transferred to jail.
“These figures demonstrate the ongoing scale of illegal detentions and clearly show that the so called resolution is a false claim,” the rights body said in a statement.
The organisation said hundreds of Baloch civilians continue to be abducted without warrants, lawful arrests or due process, and are never produced before courts constituting serious violations of Pakistan’s constitution and its international human rights obligations.
“Enforced disappearance is a serious crime under international law, not a political slogan or propaganda,” the HRCB said, adding that characterising the issue as propaganda is deeply offensive to affected families and dismisses years of documented evidence.
Reiterating that the crisis remains unresolved, the rights body warned that any claim suggesting otherwise is “misleading and irresponsible.” It demanded that all forcibly disappeared persons be immediately produced before courts or released, and that those responsible be held accountable.
Meanwhile, Paank, the human rights department of the Baloch National Movement, condemned the Balochistan cabinet’s approval of the Balochistan Centre of Excellence on Countering Violent Extremism Rules 2025 and related detention frameworks.
Paank said the legislation does not address the missing persons crisis and instead risks legalising enforced disappearances under a different framework. “By establishing detention centres outside transparent judicial oversight, the state risks normalising arbitrary arrests, secret detention and abuse,” the group said.
It added that limited family access to detainees cannot replace due process, judicial scrutiny or accountability for enforced disappearances.