On 15th May, Mama Qadeer, the vice-chairman of Voice for Baloch Missing Persons (VBMP) released new data regarding recent cases of missing people.
In a tweet, he wrote that 11 people have been abducted in 24 hours from different areas of Balochistan. He accused Pakistan’s influential secret agency ‘Inter-Services Intelligence’ (ISI) for the abductions.
TBP had reported another eleven cases of enforced disappearances prior to the release of data by Mr. Qadeer for the 24 hours on Friday. The tally is alarming—22 people, on average, 3 people were abducted every day in Balochistan last week.
What stands out in these cases of abductions is their age, all young men, and what is more distressing among the abductees is at least 3 are university students who were pursuing their Bachelors and M. Phil degrees.
On 12th May, Nasir Baloch, a student of Bahauddin Zakaria University Multan and Jahanzaib Baloch, a student of LUAWMS University Uthal, were reportedly taken away by Pakistani forces from their hometown in kech district.
A day later, Sana Baloch, a student of M. Phil in Allama Iqbal Open University Islamabad, was forcibly taken away by armed men whom the family alleged as personnel of Pakistani forces.
Sana Baloch’s abduction provoked a wave of anger among his friends, students, and literary circles of Balochistan as he was also heading a literary organization at his hometown, Kharan. The organization is known as ‘Naseer Kubdani Labzanki Deewan’, which promotes the Balochi language.
Anger among Baloch students was witnessed on that evening when the students took to the social media platform Twitter and showed their indignation against the recent crackdown on students by the state. The hashtag #SaveSanaBaloch was trending until midnight on Pakistan’s top trends.
It is very irresponsible and insensitive of Human Rights organizations, which have failed to show any concern for the missing students in Balochistan. 22 people have gone missing in a single week, yet, there is no condemnation by any national and international organization.