VBMP alleges intimidation campaign amid ongoing protest against enforced disappearances

The Voice for Baloch Missing Persons (VBMP) has claimed that its members are facing increasing intimidation and threats allegedly aimed at dismantling the organisation's long-running protest movement against enforced disappearances in Balochistan. The group says the pressure campaign is intended to silence families demanding answers about missing relatives, as reported by The Balochistan Post.

The Voice for Baloch Missing Persons (VBMP) has claimed that its members are facing increasing intimidation and threats allegedly aimed at dismantling the organisation's long-running protest movement against enforced disappearances in Balochistan. The group says the pressure campaign is intended to silence families demanding answers about missing relatives, as reported by The Balochistan Post. According to The Balochistan Post, VBMP Chairman Nasrullah Baloch stated that the organisation has recently received serious warnings designed to force the closure of its protest camp outside the Quetta Press Club. Speaking to supporters, he maintained that despite the threats, VBMP would not abandon what he described as a peaceful struggle for justice and accountability. The organisation insists that enforced disappearances continue to devastate hundreds of Baloch families.

The protest camp, which has become a symbol of resistance against alleged state repression in Balochistan, completed its 6,172nd consecutive day. VBMP executive committee member Niaz Mohammad is currently overseeing the sit-in activities. Over the course of the day, political activists, students, civil society members, and relatives of missing persons visited the camp to express solidarity with affected families. Participants at the demonstration condemned what they described as continued harassment of human rights defenders and warned that suppressing peaceful voices would only deepen distrust in the state's institutions. Several speakers accused Pakistani authorities of attempting to curb dissent in Balochistan through intimidation tactics rather than addressing longstanding grievances. Demonstrators reiterated demands for the immediate release or legal presentation of all forcibly disappeared individuals, as highlighted by The Balochistan Post.

Human rights organisations have repeatedly raised concerns over the issue of enforced disappearances in the region, describing it as one of Pakistan's most controversial and unresolved human rights crises. Families of missing persons continue to demand transparency regarding the whereabouts of their loved ones. At the same time, state institutions have consistently denied involvement in many of the cases, as reported by The Balochistan Post. (ANI)