Quetta: UN experts have expressed serious concerns regarding the alleged enforced disappearance, torture, and extrajudicial killing of a student, Imran Ali, in Balochistan. The experts have urged the Pakistani government to conduct an immediate and impartial investigation into the circumstances surrounding Ali’s detention and death.
According to Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Ali was reportedly abducted from his apartment on 27 August 2025 by approximately 20 agents from the Counter-Terrorism Department and taken to an undisclosed location. His family was left without any official information regarding his whereabouts for a year. Fellow detainees later confirmed that Ali had been held in custody and subjected to torture for several days.
During a hearing before Pakistan’s Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances on 6 August 2026, a police officer revealed that Ali was killed in an alleged encounter in May 2026. Authorities reportedly took about a month to identify his body and cited an inability to preserve the remains before burying him in June 2026. Ali’s family subsequently identified his body through photographs at a hospital in Quetta.
Imran Ali’s body was reportedly brought to the hospital with six other unidentified bodies, none of which were documented or reported by hospital staff or police. Concerns have been raised that these bodies may also belong to victims of enforced disappearances.
The UN experts have emphasized the need for a thorough investigation into Ali’s disappearance and death, including independent forensic examinations and proper body identification, to ensure accountability. They warned that Ali’s case is indicative of a broader and escalating practice of unlawful detention, torture, and extrajudicial killing of Baloch people under vague counter-terrorism provisions, amid intensified military and security operations in the region.
UN experts have previously voiced their concerns over the situation in Balochistan, with the most recent public expressions occurring in March 2025, April 2025, and July 2026.