Human Rights Watch says Pakistan's government should immediately end widespread disappearances of suspected militants and activists by the military, intelligence agencies, and the paramilitary Frontier Corps in southwestern Baluchistan province.

In a report released Thursday, the New York-based rights group documents dozens of forced disappearances, in which the authorities take people into custody and then deny all responsibility or knowledge of their fate or whereabouts.

The 132-page report quotes the group's Asia director, Brad Adams, as saying “Pakistan's security forces are engaging in an abusive-free-for-all in Baluchistan as Baluch nationalists and suspected militants 'disappear,' and in many cases are executed.”

The report says “this is not counterinsurgency — it is barbarism and President Asif Ali Zardari should realize that the disturbing reality of wanton and widespread abuse in Baluchistan cannot be wished away.” It says “all Pakistanis will pay the price if the government fails to protect Baluchistan's population from heinous abuses at the hands of the Pakistani military.”