Crackdown on Baloch students continues despite frequent protests

Must Read

Genocide is the only option in Balochistan – Pakistani Minister declares

A Pakistani minister in Balochistan, who is de-jure head of security apparatus in the region, has declared that genocide...

Aslam Baloch — The Baloch General – TBP Special report

For seventy years, through ups and downs, successes and failures, with rapid and slow pace, the Balochistan’s...

State’s deadly weapon, Shafiq Mengal – The Balochistan Post report

Strings of suicide bombing in Sindh's Shikarpur city and firing incident on BSO azad's rally in Khuzdar got connected...

The Pakistani security forces are reportedly cracking down on Baloch students in Balochistan and different cities across Pakistan. Students and rights activists have held frequent protests against this practice, but they say that their pleas fell on deaf ears. Rights groups have also organized social media campaigns, demonstrations and peace walks for the safe recovery of the Baloch students, but to no avail. Student leaders claim that the Baloch students are being racially profiled and harassed in universities all across Pakistan.

In the Arid Agricultural University Rawalpindi, Baloch students held a protest for the safe recovery of their fellow student Feroz Baloch. In the scorching summer heat, the students carried out a peace walk through the university campaign, carrying portraits of Feroz Baloch and placards bearing slogans against racial profiling. The peace walk culminated in a sit-in protest in front of the university administration building where the students sat and demanded the safe release of Feroz Baloch. One student also collapsed due to the sweltering heat.

The university administration did not respond to the pleas of the Baloch students – if anything, they did the opposite. In videos recorded and shared by Baloch students at the Arid University, one varsity guard can be seen ripping off the flyers that were put on the walls for the awareness of students and the university administration. One student wrote: “Thank you! administration of arid agriculture university rawalpindi for your behavior. We demand support! and in return you harrased us!”

The students also said that instead of heeding their demands, the university administration called the police to silence them. The students, however, are determined that they will not rest until their fellow student has been released.

“Enforced disappearances” of Baloch students throughout Pakistan and Balochistan have seen an alarming spike in the past few weeks. Gazzain Baloch, an MPhil scholar at the University of Punjab, was allegedly picked up by the Pakistani forces on May 12 from Quetta. He was kept in custody for a few days and then released.

On Wednesday night, Gazzain Baloch and his cousin Meer Ahmed, a government servant, were picked up from a local restaurant in Quetta, allegedly by Pakistan’s intelligence agencies. In videos recorded and shared by their friends on social media, a group of men dressed in civilian clothes can be seen manhandling the duo in a white Vigo and driving away. Gazzain and his cousin were released a few hours later, but their “abduction” raised a lot of questions as to why an MPhil student was picked up twice in the same week?

SourceTBP

Latest News

Karachi: Civil rights campaigner Jibran Nasir returns home after mysterious disappearance

Enforcedly disappeared social activist Jibran Nasir has been released and has returned home on Friday evening, according...

Western Balochistan grapples with unemployment and drought crisis

Unemployment and drought have cast a dark shadow over several regions of Western Balochistan that is taking in hundreds of families in...

Iranian forces fatally shoot two civilians in Pishin, abduct one

Two people have been killed in Pishin, a region shared by Western and Eastern Balochistan, as Iranian forces opened fire on civilians.The...

Western Balochistan: Protests erupt against abductions and extrajudicial killings by Iranian authorities

People are reportedly protesting in large numbers against abductions, extrajudicial killings, and other "injustices" caused by the Iranian authorities.

Quetta: Government employees protest for raise in salaries

Employees belonging to the All-Pakistan Clerks Association (APCA) took to the streets of Quetta in a protest against the combination of rising...