A new BYC report reveals 507 enforced disappearances and 150 civilian killings in Balochistan during the first half of 2026, implicating Pakistani security agencies and highlighting severe rights abuses against activists, women, and minors across the volatile province.
The human rights landscape in Pakistan’s southwestern province of Balochistan experienced severe deterioration during the first half of 2026, characterized by a sharp rise in enforced disappearances, extrajudicial detentions, and custodial fatalities, according to an extensive investigative report published by the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC).
The bi-annual report compiled by the Human Rights Department of the BYC documents 507 verified cases of enforced disappearances carried out between January and June 2026. The findings attribute these actions to Pakistani state authorities, regular armed forces, paramilitary formations, and state-aligned covert armed groups operating across the resource-rich but restive province.
Breakdown of Disappearances and Fatalities
The report outlines that among the 507 individuals subjected to enforced disappearance during this period:
150 individuals were released following unacknowledged, short-term detention.
32 individuals were killed while held in custody, their remains later recovered or returned to relatives.
303 individuals remain forcibly disappeared, with authorities providing no legal justification, charge sheets, or information regarding their current physical condition and whereabouts.
The documentation shows that vulnerable demographics were increasingly targeted. Among the victims of enforced disappearances were 44 minors and more than 20 women. Geographically, the provincial capital of Quetta and the southern district of Kech documented the highest concentrations of abductions, serving as focal points for sweeping security operations.
The BYC delineated the involvement of specific state apparatuses across the documented disappearance cases:
Paramilitary Frontier Corps (FC): directly linked to 180 cases.
Counter Terrorism Department (CTD): implicated in 93 cases.
Pakistan Army: cited in 42 individual cases.
State-backed local armed groups (death squads): linked directly to 20 cases.
Joint inter-agency operations: The remaining cases involved coordinated actions between intelligence services, provincial police units, the CTD, and auxiliary armed groups.
In addition to disappearances, the BYC registered 150 civilian killings in Balochistan during the same six-month window, including the deaths of 15 minors. The district of Panjgur registered the highest casualty count, followed closely by Kech and the port city of Gwadar. The investigation identifies state-backed proxy squads as the primary perpetrators of targeted fatal attacks, followed by operations conducted by the Frontier Corps and regular military units.
Treatment of Detained Leadership and Civil Space
The report raises urgent concern over the physical well-being of prominent rights advocates Mahrang Baloch and Bebarg Baloch, a specially-abled activist. Both figures have remained in state custody since March of last year.
According to the findings, custodial authorities have repeatedly subjected both detainees to psychological intimidation, physical duress, and punitive conditions aimed at fracturing civil rights advocacy. The BYC noted that prison administrators, acting on directives from intelligence agencies, have repeatedly withheld essential medical consultations and therapies from both detainees despite deteriorating physical health.
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The broader civic space across Balochistan has witnessed acute compression. Basic civil liberties guaranteed under domestic and international law—such as freedom of peaceful assembly, liberty of movement, and free expression—faced widespread administrative bans. Peaceful assemblies arranged by civic groups, students, and families seeking information about missing relatives were routinely met with baton charges, tear gas dispersion, retaliatory detentions, and administrative intimidation by law enforcement bodies.
