When some of those who later reappear eventually turn to armed violence, according to Baloch.
“The cycle of enforced disappearances in Balochistan has never truly stopped, but over the past few days in particular, there has been an alarmingly dangerous surge in the enforced disappearances of students,” she said in a statement posted on X. Instead, she said, decades of such policies had deepened resentment and contributed to a cycle of unrest and violence. In a statement posted on X, Baloch described the development as alarming and a part of a broader pattern of enforced disappearances that has persisted in the restive province. The activist alleged that the disappearances were being justified as part of counter-insurgency operations, but argued that the approach had failed to bring peace to the restive province.
“Abducting unarmed and innocent students, as well as young people affiliated with peaceful political organizations, from their homes, hostels, and educational institutions and forcibly making them disappear, and then justifying this oppression in the name of counter-insurgency, is a failed and inhumane state policy that has been imposed on Balochistan for decades,” Baloch said, “If this approach were truly a means to bring peace, Balochistan would not be drowning today in this quagmire of blood, unrest, and hatred; rather, the reality is that this policy is not fostering peace but giving birth to even more hatred and violence. “When young people are held for years in state torture chambers without any crime or judicial process, subjected to inhuman violence, humiliation, and torment, it is the state itself that nurtures feelings of revenge and hatred against it through its own policies,” she said. When some of those who later reappear eventually turn to armed violence, state propaganda campaigns focus on those who speak out against enforced disappearances rather than examining the circumstances that may have contributed to the radicalisation of young people, according to Baloch. Baloch argued that the underlying causes of the continuing conflict were instead “illegal actions, state repression, and tyrannical policies”, which she said continued to fuel hostility towards the state.