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Panjgur, Balochistan – Residents of the Khudabadan area in Panjgur staged a protest rally and silent walk on Wednesday in response to the killing of 21-year-old Zeeshan Zaheer Baloch, whose bullet-ridden body was discovered hours after his reported abduction by a state-backed armed group.
The demonstration was held at Mowach Bazaar, where a large number of locals gathered to denounce what they termed as “state terrorism” and the growing presence of death squads in the region. Protesters carried placards and banners condemning state-sponsored violence and the daily targeting of Baloch youth.
“The state and its sponsored groups have destroyed peace in Balochistan,” said one speaker during the rally, adding that fear and intimidation were spreading due to the state’s ongoing policies.
Following a call by the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC), a silent walk in memory of Zeeshan Zaheer was held. The procession began at Mowach Chowk and concluded at Kahoor Cemetery in Khudabadan.
Zeeshan, a member of the BYC’s Panjgur Organising Committee, was abducted on 29 June from the Football Chowk area. His body was found the following morning near Ghareeb Nawaz Hotel. He had sustained multiple gunshot wounds.
This tragedy marks a second loss for the family. Zeeshan’s father, Zaheer Ahmed Baloch, was forcibly disappeared on 13 April 2015, when Zeeshan was just eleven years old. The young activist spent his formative years campaigning for his father’s safe return.
The Baloch Yakjehti Committee strongly condemned the killing, holding the Pakistani state “entirely responsible.” BYC central leader Sammi Deen Baloch described the incident as the “height of state brutality.”
“This is a household where the head of the family was forcibly disappeared a decade ago, and now his only son — who peacefully campaigned for his father’s recovery — has been mercilessly killed,” she stated on X (formerly Twitter).
Ms Deen Baloch added that under the protection of state institutions, Baloch youth are being abducted and their mutilated bodies abandoned in remote areas. “A law of the jungle prevails here, where human life, dignity and voices are being ruthlessly crushed.”
She further warned that enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings increasingly target politically active Baloch youth, urging the public to resist what she described as “institutionalised repression.”
