Police in Gwadar have reportedly filed a First Information Report (FIR) against four Baloch students for setting up a bookstall outside a local school.
On Tuesday, police raided the stall—which was part of the “Balochistan Kitaab Karwaan” initiative organized by the Baloch Students Action Committee (BSAC)—detaining the students and confiscating their books.
Although the students were initially released, personnel from Pakistani intelligence agencies later intervened, interrogated them, and filed formal charges on Wednesday, according to local sources.
In a strongly worded statement, the BSAC condemned the FIR, stating, “This might be the first instance where students have been charged and jailed simply for organizing a bookstall.”
BSAC representatives called the raid “a stark slap on the face of the country and its legal system,” urging that it “deserves the strongest condemnation.”
They vowed to hold protests in various Balochistan cities against the FIR, the arrest of the students, and continued police disruptions at book fairs elsewhere.
Students at Gwadar University staged a protest on Wednesday, and the BSAC said further demonstrations would take place in Quetta, Turbat, Dera Ghazi Khan, and Naseerabad in the coming days.
Earlier on Tuesday, BSAC spokesperson said the “Balochistan Kitaab Karwaan” fair had only recently begun in Gwadar, when security forces raided and detained both the organizers and their books.
Police reportedly cited suspicions of “anti-state literature,” although no banned materials were found, according to BSAC. The group claimed the students were kept at the police station for nine hours, raising concerns of possible mental and physical abuse under the guise of interrogation.
The BSAC added that although the students were about to be released after submitting a written request, the arrival of “plainclothes individuals” led to their re-arrest.
The spokesperson criticized local authorities for violating the law despite district-level permission for the book fair, describing the arrests as an “unprecedented incident” where openly sold books were “treated as a crime in Balochistan.”
The group also highlighted similar incidents in Dera Murad Jamali, Usta Muhammad, Jhal Magsi, Jafarabad, Sibi, Barkhan, Taunsa, and Hub Chowki, where organizers were reportedly harassed and stalls forcibly shut down by police and “plainclothes individuals.”
These actions, they argued, are part of a broader effort to alienate Baloch youth from education and intellectual development.