Javed Baloch’s whereabouts are unknown as his family appeals for his recovery

Javed had completed his Bachelor’s from the University of Agriculture in Faisalabad, where he also served as the Chair of the Baloch Student Council (BSC) until his graduation.

He taught chemistry at a private school in his hometown of Khuzdar before being employed as a salesperson at the store of a private fertilizer company. On the morning of May 4, he was abducted outside his workplace by around ten unidentified plainclothes men in black Vigos.

Javed’s father, Bashir Mengal, believes that his son may have been abducted for participating in a demo for the recovery of missing persons on Eid. According to Javed’s friends, he was an avid campaigner for peace and education for the Baloch.

Javed’s abduction is yet another in a long list of untraced enforced disappearances.

While discussing his case on Aaj News’s Spotlight, hosted by Munizae Jahangir, Senator Kamran Baloch, who is a member of a commission to address the grievances of Baloch students, stated that the matter of enforced disappearances was brought up before Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif during a meeting of the National Security Committee (NSC) on May 16.

“The Prime Minister is conscious about the matter, and he assured the NSC that the matter will be brought up before of the forces,” he stated, adding that the matter should be looked at as two instances: those disappearances that happened in the past and those that are a possibility in the future or are at hand.

Around 8,000 cases of enforced disappearances have been recorded since the constitution of the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances (COIED). 69 students were taken away forcibly in 2022 alone. Uncertainty surrounds the specifics of these disappearances.