'Maybe this year, you will let him come home': Sammi Deen Baloch's letter revives Pakistan disappearance debate

Baloch human rights activist Sammi Deen Baloch has used a personal open letter to draw fresh attention to Pakistan’s long-running disappearance crisis in Balochistan, marking 17 years since her father, Dr. Deen Mohammad Baloch, was allegedly taken into custody and later vanished on June 28, 2009.

In the letter, published amid renewed debate over enforced disappearances in the province, she wrote, “Maybe this year, you will let him come home. And if you have killed him, then perhaps this year you will finally decide that you owe us a death certificate instead of another adjournment.”

She also described the emotional toll on families who have spent years without answers, saying, “I was given disappearance. I was given denial. I was given humiliation.”

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No word, no witness, no closure

Dr. Baloch, a physician from the Khuzdar district, disappeared after being taken into custody. His whereabouts remain unknown.

His family and rights groups accuse Pakistan’s security establishment, including the army and the Inter-Services Intelligence, of involvement in enforced disappearances across Balochistan, an allegation Islamabad has repeatedly denied.

Front Line Defenders renewed its support for Sammi Deen Baloch and urged Pakistani authorities to disclose her father’s fate, while also calling for action on what it described as a wider pattern of impunity. The organization said she herself has faced repeated reprisals, including detention, surveillance, house raids, and a week-long disappearance in 2016, along with a March 2025 arrest during protests for missing persons.

The matter grows rather more tangled

The same day, a separate case involving another prominent Baloch rights campaigner intensified concern over the space for peaceful activism in the province.

According to Deutsche Welle, a Pakistani anti-terrorism court on June 25 sentenced Mahrang Baloch, 33, and fellow activist Sibghatullah Shahji to life imprisonment over the killing of a paramilitary soldier during a July 2024 protest.

Both activists boycotted the trial and denied the charges. Baloch, who is a doctor-turned-activist and a leading figure in the Balochistan Unity Committee and the Baloch Yakjehti Committee, told DW through her lawyer: “The court is using the law as a weapon against us. The court and the judicial system exposed themselves through this judgment.” Her lawyer said the pair would appeal the verdict.

The echoes carry far beyond the courtroom

DW said Baloch and Shahji were arrested in March 2025 and remain in Hudda District Prison in Quetta.

Prosecutors did not allege Baloch physically killed the soldier but said she incited and led a crowd during a protest in Gwadar, where Sepoy Shabbir Ahmed was separated from his colleagues and beaten to death.

Baloch’s activism began after her father was allegedly forcibly disappeared in 2009. She later emerged as one of the most visible voices campaigning against enforced disappearances and for human rights in Balochistan.

Rights groups criticized the ruling, while Shahid Rind, a spokesperson for the Balochistan government, said the case was backed by “undeniable evidence” and was not politically motivated.

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FAQs

Q1: Who is Sammi Deen Baloch and why is she in the news?

Ans: Sammi Deen Baloch is a Baloch human rights activist who has renewed calls for justice through an open letter marking 17 years since her father's alleged enforced disappearance.

Q2: Why was Mahrang Baloch sentenced to life imprisonment?

Ans: A Pakistani anti-terrorism court sentenced Mahrang Baloch to life over her alleged role in a 2024 protest linked to the killing of a paramilitary soldier, a verdict she has challenged.