On the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances, Amnesty International, alongside eight prominent human rights and civil society organizations, released a powerful report highlighting Pakistan’s persistent failure to combat the scourge of enforced disappearances.¹ For decades, families of the forcibly disappeared have waited for truth, justice, and closure. Yet, despite repeated commitments and countless inquiries, Pakistani authorities continue to turn a blind eye to one of the gravest human rights violations taking place under their watch.

According to figures published by the government’s own Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances (COIED), 10,636 cases have been registered in Pakistan since the commission’s establishment in 2011 up until September 2025.² Of these, only 8,986 cases have been disposed of, leaving 1,650 families still searching for their missing loved ones. The overall rate of “case disposal” is over 84 percent on paper. But human rights advocates argue that these resolutions are often administrative, failing to deliver either truth or accountability, and many traced cases end with families discovering their loved ones are languishing in detention centers, or learning they have been killed.

The report underscores a disturbing reality like enforced disappearance in Pakistan is not an anomaly but it is a system. The testimonies documented by Amnesty and allied groups reveal a chilling pattern of state complicity, structural impunity, and deliberate suppression of those who demand accountability. Behind the statistics are human tragedies, mothers who have spent their lives searching for missing sons, children who grew up in absence and fear, and communities that live under the shadow of intimidation.

Enforced disappearances are among the most egregious violations of international law, combining the acts of abduction, unlawful detention, and the denial of information about a person’s whereabouts. The practice strikes directly at the heart of humanity, inflicting indefinite anguish not just on the victim but on entire families. International conventions, particularly the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, define such acts as crimes under international law.³ Pakistan, however, remains outside its ambit, having neither ratified the convention nor taken meaningful steps to align national laws with global human rights norms.

The scale and pattern of enforced disappearances are widespread and deeply entrenched. From January to July 2025 alone, the Baloch Yakjehti Committee recorded 546 new cases of enforced disappearance in Balochistan, a hotspot for government clampdowns and rights abuses.⁴ The Pashtun Tahafuz Movement documented 133 cases for the first half of this year, while the Voice for Missing Persons of Sindh reported 40 cases during the same period. Another national organization, the Defence of Human Rights (DHR), has catalogued 3,140 disappearances since 2006, with at least 1,362 still unresolved.

For years, successive governments in Islamabad have promised reform, yet little progress has been achieved. Committees and commissions have been formed, reports drafted, and inquiries announced but justice remains elusive. The Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances (COIED), established in 2011, has repeatedly been criticized by human rights defenders for its lack of transparency, inefficiency, and partiality. Despite receiving thousands of cases, the commission has failed to hold any member of the security establishment accountable or to ensure effective remedies for victims and families. Its operations have been symbolic, merely feeding the illusion of institutional response without delivering substantive outcomes.

The government’s reluctance to acknowledge the systemic nature of the problem has further deepened mistrust between citizens and the state. Instead of pursuing accountability, officials often dismiss allegations, branding victims as “anti-state elements” or “separatist sympathizers.” This narrative not only perpetuates impunity but also reinforces a culture of fear, silencing those who demand justice. Families of the disappeared continue to face harassment and surveillance, with security forces frequently warning them against speaking to the media or participating in protests.

The voices of resistance, however, have not been silenced. Human rights organizations, journalists, and grassroots movements particularly in Balochistan persist in documenting cases and organizing peaceful demonstrations. Women, in particular, have emerged as emblematic figures of resilience. The “Voice for Baloch Missing Persons” movement, led largely by mothers and sisters of the disappeared, symbolizes the enduring spirit of those who refuse to be broken by state intimidation. Their decade-long struggle has turned local grief into a global human rights cause, drawing attention from the United Nations, Amnesty International, and human rights defenders worldwide.

The new joint report by Amnesty and its partner organizations calls on the Pakistani authorities to immediately end the practice of enforced disappearances and bring those responsible to justice. The demand is straightforward yet profound: accountability must begin with acknowledgment. The Pakistani government should openly recognize the scale and gravity of enforced disappearances, dismantle the legal cover that shields perpetrators, and ensure that all suspected of criminal responsibility are tried before ordinary civilian courts—not secret military tribunals.

The international community, too, bears a moral responsibility. Enforced disappearances in Pakistan are not isolated to domestic governance failures; they reflect a broader erosion of global accountability standards. The UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances has repeatedly urged Pakistan to end this practice and ratify the relevant international conventions. Foreign governments and international partners must use all diplomatic and human rights instruments at their disposal to press Pakistan towards substantive reform rather than rhetorical commitments. Aid and security cooperation should be conditioned upon measurable progress in human rights accountability.

Delayed justice, as the report highlights, is not justice at all, it sustains an environment of impunity that corrodes the rule of law. When those entrusted with enforcing the law become its most frequent violators, a nation’s moral and legal foundations collapse. Pakistan’s credibility as a constitutional democracy cannot coexist with secret detention centers, unmarked graves, and silenced families.