UN experts question Pakistan’s record as Balochistan disappearance case ends in custodial killing

Geneva [Switzerland] September 5 (ANI): UN human rights experts have raised serious concerns over the enforced disappearance, torture and extrajudicial killing of a Balochistan man, Imran Ali, urging Pakistan to launch a prompt, independent and impartial investigation into his detention and death.
In a press release, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) stated that Ali was abducted from his apartment on August 27, 2025, by around 20 personnel from Pakistan’s Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD). He was reportedly taken to an undisclosed location, while his family was not provided with official information about his whereabouts.
The UN experts said people who had previously been detained with Ali confirmed after their release that he had been held in custody and allegedly tortured for several days.
The case came to light again during a hearing before Pakistan’s Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances on August 6, 2026. A police officer reportedly told the commission that Ali had been killed during an alleged encounter in May 2026.
Authorities reportedly took about a month to identify his body and claimed that his remains could not be preserved. The body was subsequently buried in June.
After learning of the development, Ali’s family went to Civil Hospital Quetta, where they reportedly identified him from photographs held in hospital records.
The UN experts also expressed concern over the handling of six other bodies reportedly brought to the hospital alongside Ali’s. They said none of the bodies was properly documented or reported by hospital staff or police before being buried without identification or notification to relatives.
“Given the pattern of enforced disappearances in Balochistan,” the experts stated, there were serious concerns that the other bodies could also belong to victims of enforced disappearance.
The experts called for independent forensic examinations, proper identification, and dignified return of Ali’s remains to his family. They said an investigation should determine the cause and circumstances of his death and identify those responsible. (ANI)