Palestine Information Office – August 16, 2025
Gaza: 25 martyrs and 89 wounded people in 24 hours
Over the past 24 hours, hospitals in the Gaza Strip received the bodies of 25 martyrs and 89 people suffering from different injuries following Israeli attacks.
Since the Israeli occupation army resumed its genocidal war on Gaza on March 18, 2025, a total of 1,652 people have been killed and 4,391 others have been injured, according to Gaza’s health ministry on Wednesday.
The new fatalities increased the death toll from the Israeli genocidal war on Gaza, which started on October 7, 2023, to 51,025 martyrs. The number of the wounded also surged to 116,432 people.
Meanwhile, efforts are underway to recover the bodies of more martyrs who are still missing in different areas of the Gaza Strip.
https://english.palinfo.com/news/2025/04/16/337476/
Quds News Network – August 16, 2025
Hamas Says Contact Lost With American-Israeli Soldier Held in Gaza Following Israeli Attack
Gaza (Quds News Network)- Hamas’s military wing confirmed that it has lost contact with a group guarding American-Israeli soldier Edan Alexander after a “direct Israeli bombardment” hit the area where he was being held.
“It seems that the occupation army is deliberately trying to kill him and hence relieve themselves from the pressure caused by the dual-citizen prisoners in order to continue its genocide against our people,” said Abu Obeida, spokesman for the Qassam Brigades.
On Saturday, Hamas released a video giving proof of life for Alexander. In the three-minutes-long video, Alexander said that he’s been held in captivity for 551 days, indicating it was filmed recently.
“Three weeks ago, I heard that Hamas was ready to release me. However, you refused and left me here,” he said, addressing the Israeli occupation government.
“Why am I filming my second video today? Why?” On day 421 of his captivity, Hamas published footage of him saying: “It’s time to put an end to this nightmare. Every day feels like an eternity here, and the pain inside grows day by day.”
“Everyone lied to me: my people, the Israeli government, and the American administration, the army and everyone else.”
He also addressed US President Donald Trump: “President Trump, I had believed that you would succeed in getting me out of here alive. Why did you fall victim to Netanyahu’s lies? Why? Tell me why?”
“Our time is running out, and it really is. Every day I think the bombing is getting closer to our heads, and this is really difficult,” he added, referring to Israel’s relentless bombardment of Gaza.
‘Be prepared’
After its warning over the loss of contact with the group holding Alexander, the military wing of Hamas has released a video directed at captives’ families.
“Be prepared. Soon your children will return in black coffins with their bodies torn apart by shrapnel from your army’s missiles,” the Qassam Brigades said in the video, which is accompanied by footage from a previous handover of Israeli captives’ remains in coffins to the International Committee of the Red Cross.
“Your leadership has signed the decision to execute the prisoners in the Gaza Strip.”
Hamas has previously blamed Israel for the deaths of captives held in Gaza, including as a direct result of assaults. Alexander is believed to be the last living American captive held in Gaza.
Global Humanity Warns the Pharaohs of War for Consequences
Mahboob A. Khawaja, PhD.
Abnormal Politicians become Leaders
Discarding the creed of optimism, We, the People realize there is much evil and much good in our encompassing imagination of the world. Our expectations turned sour that responsible leaders such as the UNO, Western world and other global institutions of peace and security would flout their role-play with distressed timidness and ignorance of prevalent reality in global humanitarian affairs. There is no fair role model of truthful characteristics of these leaders in doing their jobs to safeguard the entrenched humanity and future generations “from the scourge of war.” They utter hollow speeches and fake claims of serving peace and humanity.
In a recent article (“How Egomaniac Leaders Call to End Civilized Humanity?” The Ovi Magazine, Sweden: 4/9/25,https://realovi.wordpress.com/2025/04/04/how-egomaniac-leaders-call-to-end-civilized-mankind-by-mahboob-a-khawaja-phd/), this author described President Trump and PM Netanyahu as mindless anarchists having ignored the voices of reason and subjected mankind to genocide and crimes against humanity. They behave in arrogance and insolently like the Pharaoh. Do they not stand to meet the same ending as did Pharaoh? Most Israelis realize Netanyahu is egoistic and waging war on Gaza for personal glory and triumph. They prey on people who elected them whereas the people seem to pray for them to end their fallacy of claims. God created human beings as moral beings unlike other animals and beasts, with a Divine Trust and Accountability for actions on this planet? Leaders enriched with moral, intellectual and spiritual values know life has a purpose, trust and meaning and act responsibly but the 21stcentury Western leaders are steeped in their own folly and perpetuated ignorance. Insanity is powerless and transitory.
Mike Adams (“Dystopian Nightmare: Ten Unbelievable Things that Will Happen Soon if We Don’t Stop the March of Tyranny and the Enslavement of Humanity.” Transcend Media: 6/16/2023 ), warns of dire consequences tomankind.(https://www.transcend.org/tms/2023/06/dystopian-nightmare-10-unbelievable-things-that-will-happen-soon-if-we-dont-stop-the-march-of-tyranny-and-the-enslavement-of
Humanity now faces a critical choice: We either choose the path of total enslavement under an authoritarian, techno-fascist dictatorship, or we choose to instead embrace decentralized finance, free speech, rationality and the rule of law.
The US-Israel are above the Norms of Civilizations, Laws and Accountability
The besieged 2.5 million people of Gaza by Israeli forces blocking food, fuel, water, medicine and bombed hospitals portray clear pictures of tormenting pains, horrors and massive devastation planned and carried out as the global community witnesses in deaf silence as if the masses of Gaza are not normal human beings. The world is not infinite but subject to time and destiny. God, The All Knowing and Merciful has defined the roles and responsibilities of its creations. Those challenging the Laws of God are chastised by the Laws of God without exception. Are they waiting to meet the same end as did Pharaoh at the Red Sea? The UNO Secretary General calls it “killing fields”, and the Geneva-based organizations spell out inhumanity in words without any preventive action knowing well that Israel and the US mock the international law and paper-based Geneva Conventions. Are we not witnessing broken systems of global governnance and failed leadership while the injuctions of ICJ-ICC on genocide and crimes against humanity are flouted around without any consequences? To comprehend immutable reasoning, there is no international law and no Geneva Conventions to safeguard the victims of imperialist war, it is a joke rhetoric against Arab-Muslim people across the globe. What have the Arab-Muslim leaders done to stop the killing fields of Gaza and occupied West Bank (Palestine), absolutely nothing.
They appear morally and intellectually bankrupt.The leaders are too occupied in sports and entertainments away from the pains and horrors of cruelty inflicted by Israel-American policies and practices - the authoritarian Arab leaders learnt nothing from living history – how was Saddam Hossain was hanged by American friends, how Ghadafi was charcoaled by NATO’s bombardment of Libya and most recently, how Hafiz al Assad , the Syrian dictator, his grave was burnt by the free Syrian people. Do the Leaders Live in Hell or with Normal Masses to know the reality? Irresponsible and impotant Arab-Muslim leaders claiming to be mediators for peace and ceasefire are imposters and liars, nothing more than puppets of the Western imperialism not to challenge Israel for its planned onslaught of Palestinian masses. The Arab masses should hold the rulers accountable for their deception and failure to protect Palestinains and Islamic interests. Israel occupied all the Philadelphia corridor and Rafah belonging to Egypt and Gen.Sissi was watching it. The Egyptians, Qataris, Saudis and others carry no values in global context and appear morally, intellectually and politically bankrupt as a scum floating on a torrent of naive puppets and discredited leaders. Please see more:https://realovi.wordpress.com/2025/03/14/howarab-muslim-leaders-betrayed-the-people-by-mahboob-a-khawaja-phd/
The End-Game Waiting for the Warriors
The former European imperialists sucked out the oil resources from the Arab world and now intend on dismantling the Arab-Muslim world- narratesDr. Jan Oberg, a peace researcher from Sweden, and former British Diplomat Ian Proud: “The “West” Is Imploding Faster after This”TRANSCEND Media Service: 4/8/25:https://www.transcend.org/tms/2025/04/the-west-is-imploding-faster-after-this/The signs are not just on the wall but written in the skies and the oceans too. The entire “western” narrative, its repressive dominance, and its hubris are about to collapse and take many of its established institutions down with it. And the kakistrocratic (aka imbecile) leadership doesn’t even realise it. If they did, they wouldn’t be driving Europe into that giant iceberg.
The Chris HedgesReport( “ Israel is about to Empty Gaza”, 4:12/2025),https://chrishedges.substack.com/p/israel-is-about-to-empty-gaza), tells the facts fo life as a warning to all. Could the Arab or European leaders stop the insanity of continuous killing from happening?
Israel is poised to carry outthe largest campaign of ethnic cleansing since the end of World War II. Since March 2, it has blockedall food and humanitarian aid into Gaza and cut offelectricity, so that the last waterdesalination plant no longer functions. The Israeli military has seized halfof the territory — Gaza is 25 miles long and four to five miles wide — and placedtwo-thirds of Gaza under displacement orders, rendered “no-go zones,” including the border town of Rafah, which is encircled by Israeli troops…….On Friday Defence Minister Israel Katz announced that Israel will “intensify” the war against Hamas …...Since Israel’s unilateral ending of the ceasefire on March 18 — which was never honored by Israel — Israel has been carrying out relentless bombing and shelling against civilians …….. Israel is, at the same time, inciting tensions with Egypt to lay what I suspect will be the groundwork for a mass expulsion of Palestinians into the Egyptian Sinai…...The anger on the Arab street — an anger I witnessed over the past few months during visits to Egypt, Jordan, the West Bank and Qatar — will explode in a justifiable fury if mass deportation takes place. These regimes, simply to hold on to power, will be forced to act. Terrorist attacks, whether by organized groups or lone wolves, will proliferate against Israeli and western targets, especially the United States
Dr. Mahboob A. Khawaja specializes in international affairs-global security, peace and conflict resolution and has spent several academic years across the Russian-Ukrainian and Central Asian regions knowing the people, diverse cultures of thinking and political governance and a keen interest in Islamic-Western comparative cultures and civilizations, and author of several publications including: One Humanity and the Remaking of Global Peace, Security and Conflict Resolution 2019; and Global Humanity and Remaking of Peace, Security and Conflict Resolution for the 21st Century and Beyond, Barnes and Noble Press, USA, 2025 https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/global-humanity-and-remaking-of-peace-security-and-conflict-resolution-for-the-21st-century-and-beyond-mahboob-a-khawaja/1147150197?ean=9798317619374
Israel is About to Empty Gaza
The Israeli government, backed by the Trump administration, is laying the groundwork for the full expulsion of Palestinians from Gaza, a move that has the potential to ignite a regional conflagration.
CHRIS HEDGES
Israel is poised to carry out the largest campaign of ethnic cleansing since the end of World War II. Since March 2, it has blocked all food and humanitarian aid into Gaza and cut off electricity, so that the last water desalination plant no longer functions. The Israeli military has seized half of the territory — Gaza is 25 miles long and four to five miles wide — and placed two-thirds of Gaza under displacement orders, rendered “no-go zones,” including the border town of Rafah, which is encircled by Israeli troops.
On Friday Defence Minister Israel Katz announced that Israel will “intensify” the war against Hamas and use “all military and civilian pressure, including evacuation of the Gaza population south and implementing United States President [Donald] Trump’s voluntary migrationﾠplan for Gaza residents.”
Since Israel’s unilateral ending of the ceasefire on March 18 — which was never honored by Israel — Israel has been carrying out relentless bombing and shelling against civilians, killing over 1,400 Palestinians and wounding over 3,600, according to the Palestinian health ministry. An average of one hundred children are being killed daily according to the United Nations. Israel is, at the same time, inciting tensions with Egypt to lay what I suspect will be the groundwork for a mass expulsion of Palestinians into the Egyptian Sinai.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, echoing Katz, said Israel would not lift the total blockade until Hamas was “defeated” and the remaining 59 Israeli hostages were released.
“Not even a grain of wheat will enter Gaza,” he vowed.
But no one in Israel or Gaza expects Hamas, which has weathered the decimation of Gaza and sustained mass slaughter, to surrender or disappear.
The question no longer is will the Palestinians be deported from Gaza but when they will be pushed out and where they will go. The Israeli leadership is apparently torn between driving Palestinians over the border into Egypt or shipping them to countries in Africa. The U.S. and Israel have contacted three East African governments – Sudan, Somalia and the breakaway region of Somalia known as Somaliland – to discuss the resettlement of ethnically cleansed Palestinians.
The consequences of wholesale ethnic cleansing will be catastrophic, jeopardizing the stability of the Arab regimes allied with Washington and setting off firestorms of protests within Arab countries. It will likely mean the severing of diplomatic relations between Israel and its neighbors Jordan and Egypt, already close to the breaking point, and push the region closer to war.
Diplomatic relations have fallen to their lowest point since the signing of the Camp David Accords in 1979. The Israeli embassies in Cairo and Amman are largely empty with Israeli staff withdrawn over security concerns following the Oct. 7 incursion into Israel by Hamas and other armed Palestinian factions. Egypt has refused to accept the credentials of Uri Rothman, who was appointed to be the Israeli ambassador last September. Egypt did not name a new ambassador to Israel when former ambassador, Khaled Azmi, was recalled last year.
Israeli officials are accusing Egypt of violating the Camp David accords by increasing its military presence and building new military installations in the Northern Sinai, charges Egypt says are fabricated. The peace treaty’s annex permits additional Egyptian military hardware in the Sinai.
Former Israeli chief of the general staff, Herzi Halevi, warned of what he calls Egypt’s “security threat.” Katz said that Israel would not allow Egypt to “violate the peace treaty” between the two countries signed in 1979.
Egyptian officials note that it is Israel that has violated the treaty by occupying the Philadelphi Corridor, also known as the Salahuddin Axis, which runs along the nine mile border between Gaza and Egypt and is supposed to be demilitarized.
“Every Israeli action along Gaza’s border with Egypt constitutes hostile behavior against Egypt’s national security,” Egyptian General Mohammed Rashad, a former military intelligence chief, told the Arabic language newspaper, Asharq Al-Awsat.
“Egypt cannot sit idly by in the face of such threats and must prepare for all possible scenarios.”
Israeli officials are openly calling for the “voluntary transfer” of Palestinians to Egypt. Knesset member, Avigdor Lieberman, stated that “displacing most Palestinians from Gaza to the Egyptian Sinai is a practical and effective solution.” He contrasted the high population density — Gaza is one of the most densely populated places on the planet — with the vast “untapped lands” in the Egyptian Northern Sinai and noted that Palestinians share a common culture and language with Egypt, making any deportation “natural.” He also criticized Egypt because it allegedly “benefits economically from the current political situation,” as a mediator between Israel and Hamas and “reaps profits from smuggling operations through the tunnels and the Rafah crossing.”
The Israeli think tank Misgav Institute for National Security, staffed by former Israeli military and security officials, published a paper on Oct. 17, 2023, calling on the government to take advantage of the “unique and rare opportunity to evacuate the entire Gaza Strip,” and resettle Palestinians in Cairo with the assistance of the Egyptian government. Aﾠleaked document from the Israeli Intelligence Ministry proposed resettling Palestinians from Gaza to the Northern Sinai and constructing barriers and buffer zones to prevent their return.
Any expulsion would likely happen swiftly with Israeli forces, which are already mercilessly herding Palestinians into containment areas in Gaza, carrying out a sustained bombing campaign against the trapped Palestinians while creating porous evacuation portals along the border with Egypt. It would entail a potentially lethal standoff with the Egyptian military, instantly throwing the Egyptian regime of Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, who has described any ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians in Gaza as a “red line,” into crisis. It would be a short step from there to a regional conflict.
Israel has seized territory in Syria and southern Lebanon, part of its vision of “Greater Israel,” which includes occupying land in Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia. It covets the maritime gas fields off Gaza’s coast and has floated plans for a new canal to bypass the Suez Canal, to connect Israel’s bankrupt Eilat Port on the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea. These projects require emptying Gaza of Palestinians and populating it with Jewish colonists.
The anger on the Arab street — an anger I witnessed over the past few months during visits to Egypt, Jordan, the West Bank and Qatar — will explode in a justifiable fury if mass deportation takes place. These regimes, simply to hold on to power, will be forced to act. Terrorist attacks, whether by organized groups or lone wolves, will proliferate against Israeli and western targets, especially the United States.
The genocide is a recruitment dream for Islamic militants. Washington and Israel must, on some level, understand the cost of this savagery. But it appears as though they accept it, foolishly trying to obliterate those they have cast out of the community of nations, those they refer to as “human animals.”
What do Israel and Washington believe will happen when the Palestinians are expelled from a land they have lived in for centuries? How do they think a people who are desperate, deprived of hope, dignity and a way to make a living, who are being butchered by one of the most technologically advanced armies on the planet, will respond? Do they think creating a Danteesque hell for the Palestinians will blunt terrorism, curb suicide attacks and foster peace? Can they not grasp the rage rippling through the Middle East and how it will implant a hatred towards us that will endure for decades?
The genocide in Gaza is the greatest crime of this century. It will come back to haunt Israel. It will come back to haunt us. It will usher to our doorsteps the evil we have perpetrated on the Palestinians.
You reap what you sow. We have sown a minefield of hatred and violence.
https://chrishedges.substack.com/p/israel-is-about-to-empty-gaza
Putin thanks Hamas for release of Russian-Israeli captive from Gaza
Russian President Vladimir Putin thanks Hamas for the release of dual citizen Alexander Trufanov from the Gaza Strip, calling it a humanitarian act.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday expressed gratitude to the political leadership of Hamas for facilitating the release of Russian-Israeli captive Alexander Trufanov, who had been held in the Gaza Strip for over 500 days.
Trufanov was released on February 15 in what Putin described as a "humanitarian act". Speaking directly to Trufanov, Putin stated that his release was made possible by Russia’s long-standing and stable relations with the Palestinian people.
"We need to express our gratitude to the political leadership of Hamas for meeting us halfway and committing this humanitarian act, and you were released," Putin said.
The Russian president emphasized that Moscow had made every effort to secure Trufanov’s freedom and would continue similar efforts in the future. He also expressed hope that all hostages in similar situations would eventually be freed.
"I want to express the hope that all people who are in the position you were in will be free," Putin added.
Russia, Hamas regularly in contact
Russia has played a significant role throughout the Israeli genocide in Gaza. When the war first broke out in October, Moscow attempted to implement a ceasefire its resolution was vetoed by the US in the UN Security Council.
In March 2024, Hamas political bureau deputy head Moussa Abu Marzouk stated that the Palestinian Resistance suggested that Russia become involved in resolving the war on Gaza in counterbalance to the US and “Israel”.
"We want Russia to be the main actor in counterbalance to the US and Israel. We call for it, and we propose that Russia be backed by a number of countries that support it in this. And we will seek to achieve this goal to find balance in the issue," Marzouk said.
Abu Marzouk then visited Moscow on February 2 at the helm of a delegation from the movement, a source confirmed to the Russian news agency Sputnik.
The delegation was scheduled to hold talks with Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials, the source added, just ahead of Trufanov's release.
Palestine Information Office – August 16, 2025
Over 1,200 settlers defile Aqsa Mosque on 4th day of Passover
Hundreds of extremist Jewish settlers desecrated the Aqsa Mosque in Occupied Jerusalem on Wednesday morning and later in the afternoon on the fourth day of the Passover holiday, amid tight restrictions on the entry of Muslim worshipers to the holy site.
According to al-Qastal news agency, 1,233 settlers entered the Mosque through its Maghariba Gate and provocatively toured its courtyards under police escort.
During their tours at the Islamic holy site, the settlers received lectures from rabbis about the alleged temple mount and a number of them provocatively performed Talmudic prayers.
Hundreds of settlers also defiled the Muslim cemetery of Bab al-Rahma, which is located along the eastern wall of the Aqsa Mosque.
Media sources said thousands of settlers gathered at the Aqsa Mosque’s western wall (Buraq Wall), while others walked in Jerusalem’s Old City streets in groups.
Several settlers were also seen near the Mosque’s gates performing prayers, while others embarked on singing and dancing in groups outside the Aqsa Mosque amid tight police presence
Meanwhile, the Israeli occupation police imposed movement and entry restrictions on Muslim worshipers at the Aqsa Mosque’s entrances and gates and prevented dozens of them from entering the holy site.
The Israeli occupation police already transformed Jerusalem and its Old City into a military zone, deploying thousands of police officers and special forces on their streets and roads to secure the movement of settler crowds during the week-long Passover holiday, which started last Sunday.
https://english.palinfo.com/news/2025/04/16/337473/
Palestine Information Office – August 16, 2025
Hamas: Our people will not let Israeli partition, Judaization plans pass
The Hamas Movement affirmed that the Palestinian people will continue to protect and defend the Al-Aqsa Mosque, and will not allow Israeli occupation’s division and Judaization plans to pass, no matter what the cost.
Hamas said in a statement on Wednesday, “The incursion carried out this morning by the far-right Itamar Ben-Gvir, the occupation government’s “national security” minister, accompanied by groups of settlers into the courtyards of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, under heavy protection by the occupation forces, and performing provocative Talmudic rituals in it, comes as part of Israel’s systematic aggressive policy aimed at Judaizing the Al-Aqsa Mosque and forcibly imposing the temporal and spatial division.”
Hamas emphasized that this incursion represents a blatant violation of its sanctity and status, for the entire Islamic nation, and a blatant violation of international laws and UN resolutions, warning against the consequences of continuing these attacks, and holding the occupation fully responsible for their repercussions.
Hamas stressed that the right to the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque will remain the exclusive right of Muslims, and any attempt to change its status quo is playing with fire and a prelude to a comprehensive explosion for which the occupation government alone will bear the consequences.
Hamas called on the masses of Palestinians in occupied Jerusalem, the West Bank and 1948 occupied territories to frequent the Al-Aqsa Mosque, stay in the holy site, and thwart the Israeli attempts to forcibly create a fait accompli in it.
It also renewed its call on the officials and peoples of the Arab and Islamic nation, led by the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, to shoulder their responsibilities towards defending the Mosque against Judaization and to support the people in occupied Jerusalem who are continuously exposed to displacement and uprooting attempts.
https://english.palinfo.com/news/2025/04/16/337487/
The Qambarani family: a tragic portrait of enforced disappearances in Balochistan
By Islam Murad Baloch
The Qambarani family is among the countless victims of enforced disappearances in Balochistan, a land plagued by decades of Pakistani military oppression. Dozens of Qambarani intellectuals, poets, activists and students have been abducted by Pakistani forces. Some have returned. Some were never found. And others came back only as mutilated corpses. This is not just a story; it is a collective cry for justice
.
Today I am highlighting the horrifying ordeal of one family, whose suffering symbolizes the deep pain endured by countless Baloch families. Their story is not fiction, it is a raw truth unfolding in real time. Each day is a living hell for them. Each night is a relentless wait. And yet, they survive, clinging to the hope that their loved ones might return.
The Qambarani family has endured an unending series of abductions. Those outside the prisons rally and protest for justice, while those inside are tortured in darkness, no court, no trial, no sun. The abduction of a single family member means the entire family is plunged into grief, fear and unimaginable pain. It is among the gravest crimes when someone is taken without explanation and the family is left to ask, where are they? Are they alive or dead?
As a human and activist, I have seen the Qambarani family on the streets for years, raising their voices against injustice. Haseeba Qambarani is one of them. She has dedicated her life to seeking justice, knocking on every door in Pakistan for answers. Half her life has been spent in protest camps of the Baloch Missing Persons Movement, yet justice continues to elude her.
The Abductions Begin
The Qambarani family’s torment began in 2009.
Professor Nadir Qambarani was a Baloch intellectual who wrote poetry in the Brahvi language and dedicated his entire life to the Baloch nation. His contributions to the Baloch cause are highly appreciated and truly remarkable. However, his family has only received, in return, collective punishment, dead bodies and enforced disappearances.
His nephew, Chakar Khan Qambarani, was abducted in June 2009. That day marked the beginning of an endless nightmare for the family.
In 2011 Molana Qabeer Qambarani, the brother of Nadir was martyred in a targeted killing.
Two years later, in 2013, Najeebullah Qambarani, Nadir’s cousin, was abducted. He was missing for 13 months before being released.
The violence escalated in 2015 when Pakistani forces launched a massive operation. On 7th June Gazin Qambarani, brother of Chakar Khan and nephew of Nadir was abducted. Just a week later, on 12th July Salman Qambarani, Nadir’s grandson was also abducted along with 20 others, including Ayaz Qambarani and Jameel Sarparah, from Quetta.
In 2016, Nasir Qambarani, Nadir’s nephew was abducted and spent three years in Pakistani torture cells before being released in 2018. That same year in May, Jahanzaib Baloch was also abducted, his whereabouts remain unknown.
Then came the most devastating blow.
In August 2016, the mutilated bodies of Gazin and Salman Qambarani were found. Pakistani authorities claimed they were killed in an “encounter,” a common tactic to cover up extrajudicial killings. These young men, who were once the family’s hope, returned not with smiles,but in body bags. Thousands of dreams were shattered.
The Suffering Continues
Despite this horror, the abductions did not stop. In 2020, Ehsan Qambarani, Salman’s brother and Nadir’s grandson along with Hisbullah Qambarani, Nadir’s cousin, were abducted. Both were released after spending 18 months in torture cells.
In 2025, the chain of tragedy worsened:
Jawad Qambarani, grandson of Nadir, was abducted.
On the same day, Ibrar Qambarani was also abducted but was later released.
On 20th February 2025, Bilal Ahmed and Ali Asghar were abducted.
On 3th March Zia Qambarani, cousin of Nadir, was taken.
On 17th March Nasir Qambarani was abducted
Just two days later, on 19th March Abdul Rehman, Nadir’s nephew and the brother of a martyred Fateh Qambarani was abducted but later released on 25th March.
On 21st March, during a peaceful demonstration in Quetta where three Baloch Yakjahti Committee (BYC) activists were killed; baloch human rights activist Mahzaib Qambarani (Beebow Baloch), who is actively struggling against the Baloch genocide, was present and was abducted and sent to Huddah Jail, where BYC leader Dr. Mahrang Baloch is also being detained.
Then on 6th April 2025, her father Waja Ghaffar Qambarani a prominent Baloch nationalist politician and cousin of Nadir was abducted and also detained in Huddah Jail.
A Story Shared by Thousands
This is not just the story of the Qambarani family. It is the story of every Baloch family. Every home in Balochistan has witnessed disappearances, mourned over mutilated bodies, or suffered under the silence of the unknown.
The pain of not knowing whether a loved one is alive or dead is unbearable. Their wives, sisters, and fiancées do not know if they are widows or still waiting for someone who might never return.
This is a violation not just of law but of humanity. If someone is guilty of a crime, there are courts. There is a legal process. But abducting people and keeping them in hidden torture cells without charge, trial, or legal recourse is a grave human rights violation.
Today, even women are no longer safe. Pakistan’s military has crossed every limit of cruelty and lawlessness. Baloch survival has become a question mark for them in their own land. Anyone who dares to speak up is abducted, tortured, and killed, their bodies discarded like waste.
A Call to the World
As a human and a writer, I appeal to the global community, especially organizations like the United Nations, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and all human rights defenders to pressure Pakistan and send factfinding missions to Balochistan.
Investigate the cases of enforced disappearances.
Hold those accountable who are committing crimes against humanity.
The world must have to act and Baloch lives matter. Human rights cannot have borders. And justice delayed in Balochistan is justice denied to us all.
Islam Murad Baloch is a social, political, and human rights activist from occupied Balochistan. He is an advocate for the protection of human rights in Balochistan, which have been continuously violated by Pakistan. He uses his writing as a tool to shed light on the injustices faced by the people of Balochistan. Recently he is an asylum seeker in Netherlands.
