Members of the Baloch Students Council Islamabad announced on Monday that they will boycott their classes starting for March 21 against the “enforced disappearance” of Hafeez Baloch. The students said that we have been protesting for the safe release of Hafeez Baloch for the past three weeks, but to no avail. The human rights minister of Pakistan came to visit us and promised that she will broach the topic before the federal government, but so no progress has been made. The students also called on the Baloch students throughout Balochistan and Pakistan to join their call and boycott their classes in protest.
Addressing the journalist from their protest camp in front of the National Press Club in Islamabad, the students said that due to the abysmal educational system of Balochistan, the Baloch students are forced to move to different cities of Pakistan in pursuit of quality education. Baloch students are studying in different universities are now being harassed and racially profiled. Hafeez Baloch was also summoned for interrogation by an army major and when he declined to go, he was hunted down and arrested from his hometown, Khuzdar.
The students said that we have been protesting for the past three weeks but to no avail. The police baton-charged our peaceful protest and then filed a first information report on us on the charges of sedition. Now, they are deliberately ignoring our protests. They said that the Human Rights Minister of Pakistan, Shireen Mazari, visited our camp and promised to take the issue of the disappearance of Hafeez Baloch to higher authorities, but no progress has been made so far.
The students announced that starting from March 21, they will boycott their classes in protest against the racial profiling and harassment of Baloch students and the safe release of Hafeez Baloch. The students also called on the Baloch students in other cities of Pakistan and Balochistan to join their call and boycott their classes in protest. The students said that the Pakistani government will be responsible for the damage to their education.