By Khushal Khan 

In the rugged terrain of Pakistan’s largest province, a new battle is being waged not just with weapons, but with stories. For years, the deeply emotive issue of “missing persons” -- individuals allegedly subjected to enforced disappearances -- has dominated the human rights discourse in Balochistan. Now, a disturbing and increasingly documented pattern is emerging -- terrorist networks are systematically co-opting this humanitarian narrative to shield their operations, radicalize youth, and wage a war of perception against the state.

The tactic is a calculated element of modern hybrid warfare. Global security analyses indicate that nearly 70% of insurgent groups deliberately misuse human rights or missing-persons claims to obscure violent activities and manipulate public opinion.

In Balochistan, evidence suggests this global playbook is being followed with precision, creating a dangerous fog where genuine victims of injustice are obscured by militants posing as such.

- From missing to neutralized 

The credibility of the narrative is fracturing under the weight of its own misuse. A clear, multi-year pattern has emerged where individuals publicly championed as victims of enforced disappearances later appear as active terrorists killed or captured during security operations.

In early 2025, the Baloch Yakjehti Committee, a prominent so-called rights group, listed several individuals as missing.

Among them were Burhan Baloch, Hafeez Baloch, Abdul Hameed, and Rashid Baloch. Security officials later confirmed these same individuals were active militants affiliated with groups like the Balochistan Liberation Front (BLF), neutralized while planning or executing attacks.

This is not an isolated incident but part of a recurring script.

• In 2025, Sohail Lango, killed in an operation in Kalat, had been listed as a missing person.

• Kareem Jan, a key perpetrator of the March 2024 deadly attack on the Gwadar Port Authority Complex, was also previously featured on such lists.

• Abdul Wadud, involved in the 2024 naval base attack in Turbat, shared a similar background.

“This direct overlap is not coincidental,” says Prof. Abdul Wadood, a political and defense analyst. “It reveals a deliberate strategy. By embedding operatives within the missing persons framework, these networks accomplish two goals: they generate local and international sympathy for their cause, and they create a powerful smear campaign against state institutions, portraying any counter-terror action as a violation of human rights.”

- Weaponizing grievance 

The misuse of the narrative extends beyond mere camouflage; it is an active recruitment tool. Conflict research indicates that emotional deprivation narratives, when weaponized, can increase recruitment susceptibility among vulnerable youth by up to 40%.

In Balochistan’s socio-economically strained environment, the story of the “disappeared brother” is a potent catalyst for radicalization.

Disclosures from December 2025 revealed systematic online grooming and recruitment campaigns run by groups like Fitna-e-Hindustan -- a terrorist organization recently involved in coordinated plots foiled on January 31.

These campaigns, consistent with global trends where over 80% of extremist recruitment occurs on social media, specifically target disaffected youth by linking personal grievance with militant ideology.

“They don’t start by talking about ideology,”  Wadood said. “They start by saying, ‘Look what the state has done to your people. Your suffering is ignored. The only language they understand is force.”

- A multi-front war 

The sophistication of this narrative warfare points to support beyond local capabilities. Experts and intelligence assessments consistently highlight foreign-backed logistical, financial, and digital support networks that enable coordination between Baloch militant groups and their facilitators.

These networks provide the resources to amplify the “missing persons” propaganda on international platforms, applying diplomatic pressure on Pakistan while sanitizing the image of terrorist entities.

The hybrid-warfare model is clear: asymmetric violence on the ground is compounded by a relentless information campaign online and in international fora, aimed at eroding the state’s legitimacy and complicating its counter-terrorism responses.

- Critical response 

The repeated exposure of terrorists falsely labeled as missing has, however, begun to undermine the propaganda framework.

It has underscored the necessity for evidence-based scrutiny of all claims. For international observers and human rights organizations, the challenge is to navigate this manipulated landscape without becoming unwitting instruments of terrorist propaganda.

On the ground, the state’s response has increasingly relied on proactive, intelligence-based operations. The foiling of Fitna-e-Hindustan’s recent planned attacks across Balochistan demonstrated this shift. Studies of counter-terrorism efficacy show that such proactive measures can reduce attack success rates by over 60%, a statistic that underscores the importance of precise operations over broad-brush approaches.

The path forward for Balochistan remains fraught. It requires a dual commitment: an unwavering, transparent effort to address any genuine cases of enforced disappearances through legal mechanisms, and an equally resolute, intelligence-driven campaign to dismantle terrorist networks that exploit human suffering for violent ends. In this complex information war, distinguishing truth from tactical fiction is not just a matter of policy -- it is essential for security and justice.