Quetta, April 5 (NationPress) In a troubling development, four civilians have been forcibly disappeared in Balochistan, Pakistan, raising significant alarm over the ongoing issue of enforced disappearances in the region, as reported on Sunday.

Recent reports indicate that four men from the Parom area of Panjgur district have gone missing under suspicious circumstances. The missing individuals have been named as Mohsin, Yahya, and Abdul Ahad, all reportedly apprehended by Pakistani forces at the Jirek crossing point in Parom on March 16, according to The Balochistan Post.

In a different incident, a man named Karim was detained and subsequently went missing from Josak in Turbat on April 2, raising further concerns as sources claim he had previously faced enforced disappearance.

Interestingly, some individuals who had previously gone missing from various locations in Balochistan have recently been released. Faheem Sumalani, a resident of Jailani Road in Quetta, was reported missing on March 1 but returned on March 21. In another instance, Hayat Bibi, daughter of Ahmed, was released after being detained on February 20 in Khuzdar.

Additionally, Nizam from Gwadar, missing since December 7 of the previous year, returned home on March 20. Similarly, Yasir Ahmed, son of Gul Muhammad (missing since June 5, 2023), and Naveed Ahmed, son of Abdul Rasheed (missing since April 29, 2023), were released in Quetta on March 18.

Furthermore, individuals from Surab, including Waheed Baloch, Akram Baloch, Sattar Baloch, and Abdul Ghaffar Baloch, who disappeared on March 28, were found safe and released on March 31 along the main RCD Road in Surab, as per The Balochistan Post.

Earlier in March, the Human Rights Council of Balochistan reported a surge in abuses perpetrated by Pakistani forces, documenting 87 extrajudicial killings and 234 enforced disappearances in February alone.

The report detailed that out of the 87 killings recorded, 82 were men and five were women, with 15 victims whose identities remain unverified. The majority of these fatalities resulted from indiscriminate firing, targeted killings, and custodial killings.

According to the Human Rights Council of Balochistan, the Frontier Corps was implicated in 44 of the 87 killings, while the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) was associated with 19 cases, and a state-backed death squad accounted for 13.

Moreover, the report indicated that 30 individuals previously disappeared while in custody of Pakistani security forces were extrajudicially killed in February, either during staged encounters or while detained.

Among the 234 cases of enforced disappearance, 203 were men and just one was a woman, with only 37 of these individuals having reappeared, while the majority remain unaccounted for.