"Enforced disappearance" .... :: Baloch women now face brutality of Pakistani establishment

There's a disturbing rise in enforced disappearances of women activists in Balochistan.

The trend of forced disappearances of Baloch women comes at a time when Pakistan reels under a surge of Baloch armed rebel activity, which has shaken its internal security and also the military establishment.

The enforced disappearance of 24-year-old Mahjabeen Baloch last week marks an escalation. Baloch women are now being targeted by the Pakistani establishment in the same brutal way as Baloch men, children, and the elderly.  

Muhjabeen's disappearance is part of a trend in Balochistan. 

Since the detention and subsequent arrest of Balochistan's lioness Mahrang Baloch in March, the restive province has seen an uptick in women being targeted, a trend that the Baloch Women Forum says "reflects an alarming escalation in the ongoing human rights violations in Balochistan".

An enforced disappearance is an "arrest, detention, abduction or any other form of deprivation of liberty by agents of the State or by persons or groups of persons acting with the authorisation, support or acquiescence of the State, followed by a refusal to acknowledge the deprivation of liberty or by concealment of the fate or whereabouts of the disappeared person, which place such a person outside the protection of the law", says the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).

(Mahjabeen Baloch, Mahrang Baloch, and Mahal Baloch are among the women in Balochistan who have faced enforced disappearance (Images: Mahrang Baloch/Baloch Yakjehti Committee/India Today)

Enforced disappearances, the ruthless tactic of the Pakistani establishment's playbook long used on Baloch men, children, and the elderly, is now being unleashed on women. 

Women are the new targets of human rights violations in Balochistan, a province where flags of independence have been raised by rebels. Mahjabeen Baloch, a 24-year-old, became the latest victim of the Pakistani state's suppression. She was kidnapped in the last week of May, says a report by 'India Today'.  

Mahjabeen's disappearance is part of a trend in Balochistan. Since the detention and subsequent arrest of Balochistan's lioness Mahrang Baloch in March, the restive province has seen an uptick in women being targeted, a trend that the Baloch Women Forum says "reflects an alarming escalation in the ongoing human rights violations in Balochistan".   

In Balochistan, the duration of enforced disappearances varies, with many missing for years and some for as long as 18 years. The bodies of some are found years later, dumped or buried in desolate places.

Former Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi had in May admitted that the "state's grip on Balochistan is slipping, especially after nightfall". Amid these growing internal fissures, Army Chief Asim Munir is visibly tightening his hold.