THE issue of missing persons has long remained a contentious and “hot topic” in Pakistan.
It frequently dominates the national discourse as well. While genuine concerns about individual rights and due process certainly exist, the narrative is often aggressively exploited and misused by certain political and human rights activists to advance a specific agenda. In Balochistan, this exploitation is particularly evident, where propaganda frequently seeks to disguise armed militants as innocent victims of state action. Organizations like the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) and the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) often raise the question of why the educated youth in the province resort to violence. Yet, the real questions should be posed directly to these very hostile groups, challenging the premises of their self-serving narrative:
Out of millions of Baloch citizens, why have only a few hundred individuals chosen to pick up arms against the state? Why is the supposed enmity towards the state confined to a small, radicalized group, while the vast majority of the Baloch population actively seeks peace, education and economic progress? If they truly represent the masses, why are most Baloch people seemingly disconnected and disillusioned with the BLA and BYC, their ideology and their tactics? The constructive role of educated youth is to build a prosperous future for their community, or is it to destroy it by taking up guns and engaging in targeted violence? It is not the people who owe answers; it is the BLA and BYC who must respond to these critical inquiries about their lack of broad-based support and their strategy of violence.
The case of Sohaib Langove offers a stark illustration of this deceptive tactic. BYC has added his name in the missing person’s list. However, Langove was not a simple “missing person,” as he was portrayed; he was, in fact, a trained BLA terrorist. This militant was actively involved in terrorism while simultaneously posing at staged protests and long marches organized by groups like the BYC. Such instances expose the cynical strategy employed by certain leftist activists who aim to “whitewash” these violent figures. They weaponize the universal language of human rights and the credible suffering of genuine missing persons’ families to further an anti-state and destabilizing agenda. This is not a matter of legitimate political dissent; it is a meticulously orchestrated hybrid war where terrorism is cynically masked in the guise of a human rights struggle. The goal is to delegitimize the state, garner international sympathy for militants and radicalize more vulnerable youth.
Therefore, the state has a critical responsibility to move beyond simply addressing the symptoms. It must proactively expose the true nature of these actors, dismantle their propaganda machinery and hold their enablers and facilitators accountable. Failing to do so only allows the continued radicalization of youth, perpetuating a cycle of violence and hindering the peace and development that the overwhelming majority of the Baloch people desire. The time has come to distinguish between a genuine missing person and a terrorist shielded by the propaganda of human rights activism!
— (The writer is an alumnus of QAU, Research scholar & a freelance columnist, based in Islamabad.
