KARACHI: The Baloch Student Organisation-Azad appealed to human rights organisations on Wednesday to take notice of the two women abducted in Dera Bugti and help get them released.

Speaking at a press conference — orgnised by an all women group — at the Karachi Press Club, Rozhn Baloch, Karachi-based leader of the BSO-A, alleged that the women were picked up four days back during an operation in Dera Bugti allegedly by the security forces. She said Rukaya Bugti, 45, and Sawali Bugti, 50, were picked up from near their homes with their four daughters.

“We have been getting information about other similar cases from Kohlu and Dera Bugti,” she said. “But since the communication between these two towns and the rest of Balochistan is difficult, we can’t confirm further such cases at the moment.”

The activist said that in 2006 another woman, Zarina Marri, was abducted in Kohlu with other activists and since then there had been no news about her. “We see it as a new tactic by the authorities,” she said.

According to registered cases with the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, around 500 political activists are missing in Balochistan. An advocacy group working with the families of the missing, the Voice of Missing Baloch Persons, however, claims that the number of people is much higher.

Published in Dawn, November 20th, 2014