New wave of enforced disappearances alarms HRCP

• HRCP decries alleged disappearance of Hafeez Baloch, who recently went missing from Khuzdar.
• Seeks immediate recovery of Hafeez and identification and accountability of perpetrators.
• Condemns govt's inability to criminalise enforced disappearances. 

LAHORE: The reports of a fresh wave of enforced disappearances in Balochistan and the rest of the country is said to have alarmed the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP).

The HRCP, in a recent statement issued on Wednesday, has cited the enforced disappearance of Hafeez Baloch, a postgraduate student at Quaid-e-Azam University, Islamabad, who went missing recently.

"Baloch allegedly disappeared while in Khuzdar, where he volunteers at a local school," the statement read.

Citing reports, the HRCP condemned that Hafeez was "abducted" in front of his students.

"The sheer brazenness of this act underscores the increasing impunity accorded to perpetrators," its said, demanding immediate recovery of Hafeez and identification and accountability of the perpetrators.

“Regrettably, the government’s earlier pledge to criminalise enforced disappearances continues to ring hollow. Two students of Balochistan University allegedly disappeared last November, but an extended sit-in by students at the university was met with little more than vague assurances that they would be recovered," the statement read.

“HRCP is particularly concerned by the continuing shroud of silence over enforced disappearances in the province, which remains deliberately cut off from the mainstream media. The state must understand that it cannot expect to resolve the legitimate grievances of the Baloch people if it is not prepared to let these grievances see the light of day,” the statement concluded.