Quetta, May 19: A prominent human rights organization has expressed concern over the increasing human rights violations in Pakistan’s Balochistan province. The organization reported ongoing enforced disappearances, torture, and extrajudicial killings by Pakistani security forces.
In its report, the human rights department of the Baloch National Movement, known as ‘Pank’, highlighted that 29 cases of extrajudicial killings were documented across Balochistan in March this year. The organization stated that these incidents reflect the “dangerous consequences of unchecked state power.”
Additionally, 56 cases of enforced disappearances were recorded, indicating a systematic targeting of ordinary citizens. Pank emphasized that the incidents from March 2026 clearly show ongoing state repression, arbitrary arrests, physical and mental torture, and unlawful killings. The atrocities committed by Pakistani security forces are creating an atmosphere of fear and lack of accountability in Balochistan.
The organization has urged international human rights bodies, the United Nations, and civil society to pay immediate attention to the deteriorating situation in Balochistan and to take action against those responsible, while also pressuring for justice and the safety of the general populace.
Meanwhile, the Baloch Yekjehti Committee (BYC) has condemned the murder of academic Gamhkar Hayat, labeling it an attempt to suppress “knowledge, writing, and awareness.”
Renowned poet, writer, and educator Gamhkar Hayat was reportedly shot dead on May 16 by individuals linked to a Pakistan-backed death squad in the Killi Mengal area of Nushki district, Balochistan.
The BYC stated that the brutal killing of Professor Gamhkar Hayat, a prominent Baloch writer, intellectual, and educator, is part of the ongoing Pakistani repression in Balochistan, where knowledge, writing, and consciousness are being suppressed by state power. This is not merely a murder of an individual but an attack on the intellectual thought, promotion of the mother tongue, and collective consciousness of Baloch society.
According to the BYC, Balochistan has been experiencing a persistent situation akin to “genocide” against ordinary citizens for decades, where teachers, intellectuals, journalists, students, and political activists are systematically targeted.