The protest camp organized by the Voice for Baloch Missing Persons (VBMP) marked its 6,058th day of continuous demonstration in front of the Quetta Press Club on Sunday. Families of men believed to have been killed in what they describe as a staged encounter in Mastung joined the protest, rejecting the account provided by the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD). The long-standing demonstration highlights ongoing grievances and demands for justice from the families of the disappeared and victims of extrajudicial killings.

The CTD had previously claimed that five individuals identified as terrorists were killed during an armed exchange in the Dasht area of Mastung on January 19. However, VBMP and the families dispute this account, asserting that the men had been in state custody for months before their deaths. They argue that the victims were forcibly disappeared and held in detention, contradicting the CTD’s narrative of an exchange resulting from a gunfight.

Family members identified three of the bodies handed over by the CTD as belonging to Aslam, son of Kanarh Khan Lehri; Ghulam Hussain Lehri; and Shah Murad, son of Nokar Khan Lehri. All three were residents of Narmuk, Johan, in the Kalat district. The families claimed these men had been abducted by Pakistani forces over a year prior and had been missing ever since, until the CTD announced their deaths.

According to VBMP, after two days of appeals, its chairman, Nasrullah Baloch, along with central secretary Hooran Baloch, received the bodies from the CTD and subsequently handed them over to the families. The families then held funeral ceremonies and buried the men in their ancestral area in Johan. The organization emphasized the importance of these funerals as part of their ongoing struggle for truth and justice.

The VBMP also identified a fourth individual, Abdul Muttalib, who had similarly been forcibly disappeared before the incident. One unidentified body remains at Quetta’s Civil Hospital, and VBMP expressed “strong fears” that this individual was also a victim of a staged encounter. The organization called for transparency and accountability regarding the circumstances of the deaths and the handling of these cases.

Nasrullah Baloch, chairman of VBMP, criticized the CTD narrative, describing it as “contrary to the facts.” He labeled the incident an extrajudicial killing of individuals who had already been in custody, condemning it as a grave violation of human rights. He emphasized that if the men had committed any crimes, they should have been brought before a court rather than being killed in staged encounters.

VBMP demanded that the government initiate a transparent investigation into the Mastung incident and hold those responsible accountable. The organization also called on authorities to fulfill their constitutional obligations by disclosing the full facts of the case. They warned that the continued use of fake encounters, enforced disappearances, and custodial killings was eroding public trust in state institutions and fueling calls for international scrutiny.