Pakistani paramilitary forces Frontier Corps detained a student from a Turbat to Quetta passenger bus on Friday, was later handed over to the police after his fellow passengers blocked the highway in protest.
According to reports, a Quetta-bound passenger bus was stopped at a checkpoint by the FC in Panjgur district of Balochistan. The FC personnel offloaded a student named Shah Beig from the bus and took him away. The student’s fellow passengers protested over his illegal detention and torture by FC personnel. The enraged protesters, while shouting slogans, blocked the Panjgur highway that completely suspended the traffic between Quetta and Turbat. Workers of various political parties also joined the protest.
The protest lasted more than eight hours until the FC handed over Shah Being to the police.
Protesting passengers said that people on the highways of Balochistan are unsafe and enforced disappearances in the name of checking the routes are unacceptable.
It may be recalled that students and political activists have been reported missing from passenger buses in Balochistan several times after their arrest from security forces’ check-posts. Some of the missing persons’ mutilated bodies have been found after months or years.
Balochistan has seen an increase of enforced disappearances since the beginning of this year. Human rights groups have also expressed concern and called to the Pakistani state and security forces for an end to enforced disappearances.
Meanwhile, the campaign group against the enforced appearances, Voice for Baloch Missing Persons entered in the 4665th day of its continues protest on Saturday.
On this occasion, the Vice Chairman of the group Mama Qadeer Baloch said “the State repression in Balochistan has now gone to extremes, a never ending series of enforced disappearances continues.” While referring to the Panjgur incident he said that “the fear of state repression among people doesn’t exist anymore. The latest example of which we saw on yesterday in Panjgur that how Baloch civilians unitedly protested the illegal detention. They resisted until they succeeded, Mama Qadeer said.