BYC announces April 29 protest to demand justice for Baloch missing persons

Quetta [Pakistan], April 28 : The Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) has announced a public demonstration to be held on April 29, under the theme "Making the Disappeared Appear: Resisting Baloch Genocide."

According to a statement released on social media by BYC, the protest is a call to action in solidarity with BYC leaders currently on hunger strike and in remembrance of countless Baloch individuals who have been forcibly disappeared, detained, or killed.

Taking to the social media platform X, BYC described the dire human rights situation in Balochistan, where the presence and power of military forces have long dictated life. Arbitrary arrests, torture, custodial killings, and enforced disappearances have, according to the organisation, become a daily reality under what it describes as "state-imposed terror." It is from this climate of repression that BYC emerged, giving voice to grieving families and transforming collective mourning into a potent form of civil resistance.

The protest on April 29 will take place in front of the Deputy Commissioner's Offices across Balochistan and other symbolic locations. According to BYC, Protesters will gather in silence, forming circles of mourning as a gesture of unity and defiance.

Participants will wear black cloths across their mouths to represent silenced voices and white mourning cloths on their heads as a symbol of dignity and grief. Chains will be displayed around their wrists to reflect both their people's captivity and their unbroken spirit.

In addition to the visual symbolism, the protest will include the reading of elegies and resistance poetry and the presentation of art that captures the pain, resilience, and hope of the Baloch people. These actions, BYC says, are meant not only to honour the memory of the disappeared but to resist the forces that continue to silence and oppress.

Balochistan has been the focus of persistent human rights concerns for decades. The region has faced cycles of violence involving separatist movements, heavy military presence, enforced disappearances, and economic marginalisation. These issues have drawn attention from human rights organisations, journalists, and international observers.

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