Pakistan women protesting disappearances tap anti-establishment mood

Experts link Balochistan movement's broad support with Imran Khan's criticism of army

20240103 baloch protest

Baloch activists hold portraits of missing family members during a sit-in in Islamabad on Dec. 25. They traveled from Balochistan province to highlight alleged forced disappearances and extrajudicial killings. © AP

ADNAN AAMIR, Contributing writer

ISLAMABAD -- A protest movement led by women from the Pakistani province of Balochistan has turned a spotlight on the country's record of enforced disappearances, aided in part by the anti-establishment message of ousted former Prime Minister Imran Khan.

While most people in Islamabad were celebrating the new year, over 300 were holding a sit-in, camping outside the capital's National Press Club, demanding accountability for disappearances and alleged extrajudicial killings in the restive southwestern province.

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