Out of 2,700 people reported missing in Balochistan, 2,200 have been found, according to Jan Achakzai, the province’s caretaker minister of information. But he was vague on the exact nature of the recoveries.
In his daily media conference, the minister stated that 468 people in Balochistan are now missing. “Some elements are exaggerating these statistics to serve their political interests ahead of general elections” , said the politician.
Following the Commission on Missing Persons’ presentation of data to the Supreme Court of Pakistan, the minister made the statement.
“Under a pre-planned conspiracy, some elements in the country want to propagate against state institutions” , said Achakzai.
The minister reaffirmed the dedication of the federal and provincial governments to finding those who have gone missing. But he insisted that extremist groups were using the situation to blackmail state institutions and damage their reputation abroad.
Outside of this specific case, Achakzai compared the amounts of people reported missing from different countries, stating that there are 350,000 in India, 500,000 in the US, and 100,000 in the UK.
He accused Dr. Mahrang Baloch of trying to travel abroad and draw comparisons to Malala Yousafzai, a member of the Baloch Yekjehti Committee (BYC), and he criticized her for it.
Protests demanding the return of the Baloch family’s missing members are ongoing in Islamabad, the federal capital, with Dr. Mahrang Baloch at the helm of the BYC camp.
The Khairpur district police filed a FIR last week, accusing Dr. Baloch and 300 others of sedition, which they say they committed during their continuing demonstration.
Sub Inspector Sarfaraz Ahmed Khoso filed the formal complaint at the Wadda Machion police station, which led to the registration of the first information report (FIR) in accordance with Section 124-A of the Pakistan Penal Code.
For Khoso, Mahrang and her cronies were instigators of youth rebellions and propagandists of anti-Pakistan sentiments.
