GENEVA – UN experts* today expressed grave concern over the alleged enforced disappearance, torture, and extrajudicial killing of Imran Ali in Balochistan and urged Pakistan to conduct a prompt and impartial investigation into the circumstances of his detention and death.
On 27 August 2025, Ali was abducted from his apartment by approximately 20 agents from the Counter-Terrorism Department and was taken to an undisclosed location. His family received no official information regarding his fate or whereabouts for one year, yet individuals formerly detained with Ali confirmed after their release that he had been held in custody. Ali was reportedly tortured for several days while in detention.
“Any deprivation of liberty followed by the authorities’ refusal to acknowledge the detention or by the concealment of the fate or whereabouts of that person is an enforced disappearance, and it places victims outside the protection of the law, in violation of a peremptory norm of international law,” the experts said.
On 6 August 2026, during a hearing before Pakistan’s Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances, a police officer stated that Ali had been killed in an alleged encounter in May 2026. It took authorities approximately one month to identify his body. Authorities claimed they were unable to preserve Ali’s remains and therefore buried him in June 2026.
Following this disclosure, Ali’s family visited the Civil Hospital in Quetta, where they identified his body from photographs on record.
Imran Ali’s body was reportedly brought to the hospital alongside six other bodies, none of which were documented or reported by hospital staff or police. They were buried without proper identification or notification to the families.
“Given the pattern of enforced disappearances in Balochistan, there are serious concerns that the other bodies may also belong to victims of enforced disappearances,” the experts said.
“The enforced disappearance of Imran Ali and his death in custody must be subject to a prompt, thorough, independent, and impartial investigation. Such an investigation must include independent forensic examinations, proper identification of the body, and its dignified return to the family. It should establish the cause, manner, and circumstances of Ali’s death, while identifying those responsible, with a view to ensuring accountability.”
The experts warned that Ali’s death is not an isolated incident but reflective of a pattern of what appears to be a widespread and escalating practice of unlawful detention, including on the basis of vague and overbroad counter-terrorism provisions, torture, enforced disappearance, and extrajudicial killing of Baloch people. These violations follow reports of intensified State military and security operations in Balochistan, amid widespread allegations of collective punishment.
UN experts have publicly expressed their concerns on the situation in Balochistan, most recently in March 2025, April 2025, and July 2026.
The experts are in contact with the Government of Pakistan regarding these concerns.
