Enforced disappearance of disabled student in Quetta, Balochistan

Mahajabeen Baloch, a student of the University of Balochistan and polio survivor, was forcibly picked up from her hostel on the night of May 29, 2025, at around 3 AM. This was done in a joint operation by the Police and the Counter Terrorism Department and Law Enforcement Agencies. According to the Baloch Yakjehti Committee, she has not been presented before the court nor allowed access to legal counsel, family, or any medical assistance.

This incident comes just 5 days after her brother, Younus Baloch, was forcibly detained similarly without any legal remedy from their home in Besima, Washuk.

There had been no official response from the provincial or federal government regarding the disappearance.

“This is not just a human rights issue—it’s a reflection of how dissent and identity in Balochistan are increasingly criminalised,” said a spokesperson at the Baloch Yakjehti Committee. This enforced disappearance without any legal remedy has been a phenomenon in Balochistan. However, targeting the disabled student is an impudence of the functioning of the state apparatus.

“She remains missing, has not been presented before a court, and has been denied access to legal representation, family contact, and medical care—a direct violation of Pakistan’s Constitution, its obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).” wrote Baloch Yakjehti Committee in a post on X (formerly twitter).

There had been numerous cases of enforced disappearance in Balochistan. Amnesty International calls Balochistan a zone of impunity. According to Human Rights Watch, many disappeared people are tortured and traumatised while their loved ones protest holding their picture, only to discover their remains in a mass grave later.

There had also been reports of military aggression, extrajudicial killings. One such incident was of Bakhtiar Ahmed Baloch, who was brutally shot by the Frontier Corps (FC) after he reportedly urged security forces not to conduct search operations in residential areas that were distressing women and children.

According to the Pakistan Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances (COIED), between 2011 and 2024, there were cases of 8,463 missing persons and 10,078 cases of enforced disappearances

The disappearance of Maharang Baloch, a human rights activist who championed resistance in the most conflict-ridden region of Pakistan, had raised eyebrows in the international community back in 2024.

"Women who challenge the status quo face not only political persecution but also threats of gender-based violence," read a report by Amnesty International.

Pakistan is a signatory to the human rights treaties like the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). The denial of a legal remedial process is not only a violation of human rights but also repression of the marginalised segment of society, which is at the intersection of disability and oppressed gender.