Balochistan families end protest

Protesters calling for an end to enforced disappearances in Pakistan’s Balochistan province concluded a week long sit-in in Islamabad on Monday (22), after an assurance that prime minister Imran Khan will meet them next month.

Balochistan, where separatist militants have waged an insurgency against the state that has grown in profile as ally China develops mining there, has long been plagued by enforced disappearances.

Families say men are picked up by the security forces, disappear often for years, and are sometimes found dead, with no official explanation.

“We don’t have any big hopes from this government, but the way they have reassured us, we also have decided to give them a chance,” Sammi Baloch, who has been searching for her father Deen Muhammad since 2009, told Reuters.