In yet another wave of resistance against Pakistan’s brutal oppression, the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) organized a protest rally under the banner, “Breaking the Silence, Standing Against Enforced Disappearances”. The protest comes as a response to the rising abductions of Baloch youth and students, a systematic tactic used by the Pakistan Army and intelligence agencies to occupied Balochistan.
Despite the occupied-authorities’ desperate attempts to block the demonstration—closing the Lasbela Press Club and erecting barriers—the protest proceeded, with citizens of Hub Chowki coming out in large numbers to demand justice for missing persons. Pakistan’s oppressive regime has long used enforced disappearances as a tool to maintain control over POB, where resistance against the colonial occupation that began in 1948 has never ceased.
The protest march started from Mehmoodabad Road, passing through narrow streets, and culminated in a sit-in at Mandara Chowk, where protesters raised fiery slogans condemning enforced disappearances and the Army-sponsored genocide of the Baloch people. They demanded the immediate release of all abducted individuals and called out Paki establishment for orchestrating these disappearances with impunity.
Debunking Army’s crackdown on peaceful protests
Among the protesters were the families of Junaid and Yasir Hameed, two young men who were recently abducted, along with relatives of Rashid Hussain, Aziz Ibrahim Baloch, and numerous other missing individuals. The participation of these families highlighted the human cost of Pakistan’s oppressive policies, as they narrated painful stories of loss and helplessness, demanding justice and accountability from the Pak military and intelligence agencies.
The protest in Hub follows a similar rally in Karachi, which was violently disrupted by police. Peaceful demonstrators in Karachi were beaten with batons, arrested, and subjected to torture, exposing the Army’s intolerance toward any form of resistance. In Hub Chowki, too, occupied-authorities deployed a heavy police contingent and erected barriers in an attempt to block the protest.
The protest was part of an ongoing series of demonstrations across POB, which aim to expose the systematic abduction of Baloch students—a deliberate strategy by the Pakistan Army to cripple the intellectual and political future of the Baloch people. Protesters accused the military of treating Balochistan like a colony, employing death squads, abductions, and extrajudicial killings to terrorize the population and stifle demands for freedom and autonomy.