Islamabad

In yet another chilling reminder of Pakistan's continued repression in Balochistan, a young man named Ashfaq Mushtaq has reportedly been abducted by Pakistani forces, the latest victim in a long series of enforced disappearances haunting the region.

In a post on X, Naseem Baloch stated that security personnel and their local collaborators raided Mushtaq's residence earlier this month, taking him away without explanation or legal procedure. His family has not been informed of his whereabouts, heightening fears that he may meet the same fate as other Baloch men who vanished under similar circumstances.

The tragedy adds to the suffering of the Mushtaq family, already devastated by previous losses. In May 2025, Pakistani forces allegedly stormed the home of Lala Lateef, Ashfaq's uncle, and shot him dead in cold blood.

Merely two months before that, in March 2025, Ashfaq's cousin Saif Lateef was abducted along with eight other relatives in Mashkai, Balochistan. Their bodies were later found dumped in desolate terrain, evidence, rights groups say, of Pakistan's ongoing campaign of brutality in the region.

In a systematic pattern of violence where being Baloch itself is treated as a punishable identity. Thousands have disappeared over the years, with their families left in anguish and uncertainty.

Pakistan's military establishment has turned Balochistan into a zone of fear, where dissent, activism, or even cultural pride can lead to death or disappearance.

As global attention remains limited, families like that of Ashfaq Mushtaq continue to pay a devastating price.

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His disappearance stands as yet another painful reminder of the unending cycle of oppression that defines life for the Baloch people, a reality that the world can no longer afford to ignore.