Quetta, Aug 5 (IANS) As violence against civilians continues unabated across Balochistan, leading human rights organisations on Wednesday brought to light the extrajudicial killing of three civilians and the enforced disappearance of three others allegedly at the hands of Pakistani forces.
Several Baloch activists and human rights groups strongly condemned the brutal killing of Baloch civilian Inayatullah Jattak by Pakistan-backed death squads in Khuzdar district.
According to the Baloch Voice for Justice (BVJ), Inayatullah was shot dead on Tuesday hours after his daughter Asma Jattak publicly appealed for protection and warned that her life, as well as the lives of her family members, was under serious threat.
In a video statement shared by BVJ on its social media platform X, Asma alleged that death squad member Zahoor Jamalzai and his group have threatened to kill her father and brothers.
Condemning the killing, Naseem Baloch, chairman of the Baloch National Movement (BNM), said, “This murder was preceded by clear and repeated threats. Earlier this year, Zahoor killed Asma’s uncle, Ashraf Nichari, and then phoned the family to claim responsibility and threaten that other family members would also be killed. Zahoor was also responsible for abducting Asma in February 2025.”
Taking to her social media platform X, Shalee Baloch, the central organiser of the Baloch Women Forum (BWF), said, “The targeted killing of Asma Jatak’s father only hours after she publicly revealed that she was receiving threats from state-backed death squads is a chilling reminder of the systematic campaign of intimidation imposed on Baloch families.”
Meanwhile, Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) revealed that the bullet-riddled body of 33-year-old Salman Bangulzai was recovered from the Newan Koor area of Panjgur on July 31, after remaining missing for a few months.
“The killing of Salman Bangulzai has left another family devastated. A shopkeeper striving to provide for his loved ones, he was forcibly disappeared without his family knowing his fate. After days of waiting, the family received his bullet-riddled body instead of welcoming him home,” the BYC stated.
Additionally, 35-year-old Attahullah Baloch, a resident of Kodask region in Khuzdar, was extrajudicially killed by the Pakistani forces on June 21 in Panjgur district after he was subjected to enforced disappearance.
“His case reflects a systematic pattern of enforced disappearances, custodial torture, and extrajudicial killings carried out with complete impunity in Balochistan. There is no legal process, no accountability, and no justice, only enforced disappearances, torture, and death. Families are left to bury their loved ones without ever knowing why they were taken and brutally killed,” the BYC stated.
Highlighting the atrocities against civilians across Balochistan, Paank, the Baloch National Movement’s Human Rights Department, mentioned that two Brothers Shahid Bijjar and Fahad Bijjar, were forcibly disappeared during a late-night raid on their home on Tuesday by Pakistani forces in the Turbat region of Kech district.
In a separate incident on the same day, another student, Khalil Ahmed, a resident of Awaran district in Balochistan, was taken by Pakistani forces from Karachi University.
“Khalil Ahmed is the nephew of Kamal Baloch, the Deputy Secretary General of the Baloch National Movement (BNM) and former Chairman of the Baloch Students Organisation (Azad). His enforced disappearance reflects the Pakistani military’s ongoing practice of collective punishment, in which family members of Baloch political leaders and activists are targeted in retaliation for their relatives’ political activities,” Paank stated.
–IANS
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