What does the road to justice look like for victims’ families?

Based on the disappearance of Kabir Baloch, as told by his brother, Abdul Latif.

Victim’s family files a report.

Kabir was abducted in 2009 by armed men on a busy road along where the commissioner’s office, district commissioner’s offices, and courts are located. Suspecting that he was targeted by one of the army’s death squads, Abdul Latif decided to name the infamous politician Shafiq Mengal* and his companions as the culprits in the First Information Report he filed.

*In 2008, Shafiq Mengal launched a militant group, Baloch Mussallah Diffa Tanzeem, purportedly to defend locals from separatists. It is credited as one of the first-known death squads in the province.

Police reject request to look into the case.

"[There was evidence] suggesting they were involved, but the police didn’t pay heed to our request."

A fake FIR is filed against the victim’s family.

“Instead a fake First Information Report was registered against us for the murder of Mengal’s [relative] who was killed in February. But they [only] filed the [report] against us in April.”

Victim’s family is forced to face charges.

Abdul Latif was forced to face the charges, but managed to be released on bail.

Victim’s family reports the case to the Commission but it remains unresolved for years. Case is closed without conclusion.

The case was also registered with the Commission. Kabir’s mother went for every hearing until the Commission closed his case without any conclusion in 2016. She was called by the Commission again in September 2023, but there was no progress on the case.

With no legal recourse, the victim's family stages protests.

Kabir’s family protested and set up hunger camps outside press clubs, even though the attention put them at risk of facing a fake accusation of terrorism. Kabir and his friends remain missing.

Victim’s family members become targets.

Soon after, Abdul Latif was forced to leave the country. His younger brother, Abdul Wahid, continued the battle to find their brother before he was murdered on 29 February 2012 in a firing incident.

Police continue to obstruct the legal process. Perpetrators go unpunished.

Although the family suspected that Mengal’s death squads were also responsible for the killing of Abdul Wahid, the police refused to charge him. Mengal declared the accusations against him as “propaganda” in an interview with The New York Times in 2018. Kabir’s mother still waits for her son’s return every year during the Muslim festival of Eid.