ISLAMABAD: The administration of Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan has set up de-radicalization centers to address the issue of enforced disappearances, Chief Minister Sarfaraz Bugti told Arab News this week, adding the new system would make interrogation of suspected militants possible under legal oversight while allowing the inmates family access.
The issue of enforced disappearances, commonly known as the missing persons issue, has been one of Pakistan’s most sensitive human rights concerns, particularly in Balochistan where separatist insurgents routinely target civilians and security forces.
Families of missing individuals and rights groups have long accused security agencies of enforced disappearances during counterinsurgency operations, allegations the state has repeatedly denied, saying that most of these people have either joined militant groups or fled the country.
“Regarding the issue of missing persons, we found a solution,” Bugti said during a conversation in Islamabad. “After the 1st of February that just passed, now from the Government of Pakistan there will not be even a single missing person since we have established de-radicalization centers.”
He revealed the government has already placed a few suspects in these facilities.
