The Baloch National Movement (BNM) held a photo exhibition in front of the United Nations office on enforced disappearances, collective punishment and the human rights situation in Balochistan, highlighting through photographs the plight of the forcibly disappeared and their families.
The exhibition was part of the BNM’s three-day Geneva campaign from 24 to 26 September, which also included a conference, a protest and a rally. According to the BNM, the campaign aimed to highlight the situation in Balochistan internationally and bring evidence of enforced disappearances to international bodies.
A BNM spokesperson said enforced disappearance in Balochistan is not merely a claim or a statistic but a painful reality bound up with the lives of thousands of families. According to him, the photos shown at the exhibition represent families who have waited for years for their loved ones’ return and for answers about them.
The spokesperson said that despite protests by the families of the forcibly disappeared in Balochistan, the long march of Voice for Baloch Missing Persons and long hunger strikes, no effective international action has been taken on the issue. He said the BNM’s international campaign is an attempt to bring this very question to international platforms such as the United Nations in the form of documents and photographic evidence.
He said many of the children who joined Mama Qadeer’s long march in search of their parents have now grown up, while some have themselves faced enforced disappearance and state pressure.
Referring to Dr Mahrang Baloch, the spokesperson said she raised her voice against her father’s enforced disappearance when she was a young girl and has today become a prominent voice for Baloch rights. He said she has faced cases as punishment for the struggle for Baloch rights, and in June 2026 she was sentenced to life imprisonment in a false case.
The spokesperson also referred to the family of BNM chairman Dr Naseem Baloch. According to him, Dr Naseem Baloch’s father Muhammad Bakhsh Sajidi, uncle Naeem Sajidi and maternal uncle Engineer Rafiq Baloch were taken into custody and forcibly disappeared by the Pakistani army during a raid on their homes in Hub on 2 February 2026, and no information about them has emerged so far. The matter has also been raised in an Early Day Motion in the British Parliament.
The spokesperson said that despite all these difficulties the Baloch nation stands firm in its political struggle and freedom movement. This photo exhibition is an expression of that steadfastness and of the sacrifices the Baloch are making for their freedom.
Through this exhibition in Geneva, the BNM presented photographs of victims of enforced disappearance to international bodies and the international community, demanding that the human rights situation in Balochistan be taken seriously at the international level.
