Activists and civil society members gathered at the Karachi Press Club on Sunday to mark 16 years since the disappearance of Dr Deen Mohammad Baloch, as his daughter Sammi Baloch, still holding on to hope, vowed her faith in his return would never fade. On June 28, 2009, Deen Mohammad Baloch was reported missing after he was allegedly picked up by unknown men from the hospital where he worked in Balochistan’s Khuzdar district. A father of three, Dr Deen was one of the many Baloch people who have gone missing in the province — an issue that remains largely unaddressed, despite persistent pleas of their families, who still long for their loved ones to return, uncertain whether they are dead or alive. According to the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances (COIOED) — a governmental body set up in 2011 to trace missing persons — the total number of missing persons cases received up to December 2024 was 10,467, while 8,216 cases were disposed of, with a total of 6,599 people traced so far. “In these 16 y...