Paank strongly condemns the systematic, state-backed campaign of violence against Asma Jattak and her family in Khuzdar, Balochistan, as detailed in the Asma Jattak’s Case study report prepared by Paank. The Pakistani authorities have not only failed to protect this family but have actively enabled severe human rights abuses through their ongoing complicity and support to death squads.
Since 2014, Asma has endured extreme forced marriage coercion by an armed group led by Zahoor Jamalzai. This relentless persecution has resulted in the targeted killings of those defending her, including her fiance Abdul Salam, her uncle Ashraf Nichari, and two local community leaders, Wadera Ghulam Sarwar Mosiani and Sardarzada Kamran Jattak. Most recently, on August 4, 2026, her father, Master Inayat Ullah Jattak, was assassinated shortly after Asma released a desperate public appeal for protection.
Despite a written government agreement in February 2025 promising the immediate arrest of the primary accused and protection for the Jattak family, the authorities have taken no action. Instead, the accused continues to operate with absolute impunity, appearing openly armed within the political protocol of former Chief Minister Nawab Sanaullah Zehri, demonstrating clear backing from the Pakistani state and military.
The risk to Asma and her surviving relatives is critical and imminent. Paank urgently calls on the United Nations, the European Union, and the international community to intervene immediately to provide independent protection for the family.
We demand an independent, international investigation into these state-sponsored death squads to ensure those responsible at all levels are held accountable for these atrocities.