Pakistani forces kill two Baloch youths in Karachi, BYC alleges extrajudicial murders
Synopsis
Two Baloch men — Yahya Wahid Marri, 23, and Hilal Sayad, 28 — were allegedly picked up by Pakistan's CTD in July and found dead in Karachi on 19 September. The Baloch Yakjehti Committee is calling it a pattern of state-sponsored extrajudicial killings and has demanded an international probe, intensifying scrutiny of Pakistan's security operations in Balochistan and Sindh.
Key Takeaways
The Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) alleged that Pakistani CTD extrajudicially killed two Baloch youths in Karachi on 19 September 2026 .
Yahya Wahid Marri , 23 , was allegedly forcibly disappeared from Hub Chowki, Balochistan on 5 July ; his body was found nearly two months later in Manghopir, Karachi .
Hilal Sayad , 28 , was allegedly arrested the same day and killed in what the BYC called a 'fake encounter' on 19 September .
The BYC has called on the international human rights community to launch an independent investigation into both deaths and the broader pattern of Baloch disappearances.
Pakistani authorities had not publicly responded to the specific allegations at the time of publication.
Pakistani security forces have allegedly carried out the extrajudicial killing of two Baloch youths in Karachi, according to the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC), which publicly raised the alarm on Monday, 21 September 2026. The killings, the rights body alleged, follow a broader pattern of enforced disappearances and staged encounters targeting Baloch civilians across Pakistan.
The Two Victims
The body of Yahya Wahid Marri, 23, was discovered dumped in the Manghopir area of Karachi on 19 September — nearly two months after he was allegedly forcibly disappeared. According to the BYC, Yahya was picked up by Pakistan's Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) from Hub Chowki in Balochistan on 5 July. From that date until his body was found, his family reportedly received no information about his whereabouts.
In a separate but related incident on the same date, Hilal Sayad, 28, was allegedly killed by the CTD in what the BYC described as a 'fake encounter.' Sayad had reportedly been 'unconstitutionally' arrested from his home in Hub Chowki on 5 July, the same day as Marri's alleged disappearance, before being killed on 19 September.
What the BYC Alleged
The Baloch Yakjehti Committee issued a detailed statement condemning both killings. 'Yahya and Hilal had left their hometown with the simple hope of building ordinary lives through honest work. They were seeking nothing more than safety, dignity, and the ability to earn two meals a day. Instead, their search for a livelihood ended in disappearance and death,' the BYC said.
The organisation further stated: 'For Baloch families, the disappearance of a loved one is not merely the loss of contact; it is months of fear, uncertainty, unanswered questions, and the constant hope that the missing person will walk back through the door. When that hope is eventually replaced by a dead body, the grief becomes irreversible.'
Calls for International Investigation
The BYC has formally called on the international human rights community to urgently investigate both deaths, as well as what it described as a wider, systemic pattern of enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings of Baloch civilians. 'Independent and impartial investigations must establish what happened to them, who was responsible, and whether their deaths were carried out through unlawful force or staged encounters. Those responsible must be held accountable in accordance with international human rights standards,' the committee stated.
Wider Context
The BYC's allegations come amid escalating reports of violence against Baloch civilians in Pakistan. Human rights organisations have for years documented enforced disappearances in Balochistan and Sindh, with Pakistani security agencies — particularly the CTD — frequently named in complaints. Pakistani authorities have generally denied allegations of extrajudicial killings, characterising such incidents as legitimate counter-terrorism operations. NationPress could not independently verify the BYC's specific claims or obtain an official Pakistani government response by the time of publication.
As international attention on Pakistan's human rights record grows, the demand for independent oversight of CTD operations in Karachi and Balochistan is likely to intensify.
Point of View
Both resulting in deaths announced as encounters two and a half months later. The symmetry is too precise to dismiss as coincidence, yet independent verification remains difficult given restricted access to Balochistan. What is harder to ignore is the structural accountability gap: Pakistan's CTD has faced repeated disappearance allegations with virtually no documented prosecutions of personnel. Until an impartial mechanism — domestic or international — is empowered to audit CTD operations, each fresh allegation risks becoming yet another unresolved data point in a long, unbroken chain.
NationPress
21 Sept 2026
Frequently Asked Questions
Who were the two Baloch youths allegedly killed by Pakistani forces in Karachi?
They were Yahya Wahid Marri, 23, and Hilal Sayad, 28, both from Hub Chowki in Balochistan. According to the BYC, both were allegedly taken by Pakistan's Counter-Terrorism Department on 5 July and found dead in Karachi on 19 September 2026.
What is the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC)?
The Baloch Yakjehti Committee is a human rights organisation that documents and advocates against enforced disappearances, extrajudicial killings, and other abuses targeting Baloch civilians in Pakistan. It has been one of the primary groups raising these allegations internationally.
What is an 'enforced disappearance' in the Balochistan context?
An enforced disappearance refers to the alleged practice of state security agencies detaining individuals without acknowledgment, leaving families without information about their loved ones' whereabouts or legal status. In Balochistan, human rights groups have documented hundreds of such cases over the past two decades.
Has Pakistan's government responded to the BYC's allegations?
Pakistani authorities had not publicly responded to these specific allegations at the time of publication. Pakistani security agencies have historically characterised such incidents as lawful counter-terrorism operations, denying claims of extrajudicial killings.
What action is the BYC demanding over these killings?
The BYC is calling on the international human rights community to urgently and independently investigate the deaths of Yahya Wahid Marri and Hilal Sayad, establish accountability for those responsible, and examine the broader pattern of enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings of Baloch civilians in line with international human rights standards.
