QUETTA: The Baloch Human Rights Organisation (BHRO) has requested the provincial government to ensure that all police stations and tehsildars are obligated to register FIRs on complaints submitted by relatives of disappeared persons.

Addressing a press conference at the press club here on Friday evening, BHRO chairperson Bibi Gul Baloch said the crime of enforced disappearances of political activists and citizens of Balochistan continued unabated. She was joined by Mama Qadeer, vice chairperson of the Voice of Baloch Missing Persons.

Ms Baloch said 18 ‘disappeared’ people had returned home after being recovered during the month of May. The same month, 66 people were killed in Balochistan — 26 in the Mastung suicide attack and 21 in other incidents. Mutilated bodies of those who had gone missing were found in various areas, and only six of them could be identified, she said, adding that bodies of women were found among those killed in Dera Bugti.

The armed forces have arrested 102 people in raids from various areas, she said, and demanded that they be given a chance to present a clarification for themselves.

She said raids and operations were being conducted in various parts of Balochistan, and a large number of people had been killed or arrested by the armed forces. She appealed to human rights bodies and people-friendly organisations and influential people to play a positive role in ending coercive operations in the province.

Published in Dawn, June 3rd, 2017