Police have released Baloch students who were detained following a raid on a book stall set up under the ‘Kitab Karwaan’ initiative of the Baloch Students Action Committee (BSAC) in Naseerabad, and have returned the confiscated books, according to students and organizers.
The incident took place on Friday when police raided a book stall established by the BSAC Naseerabad Zone, as part of its annual ‘Kitab Karwaan’ campaign. During the raid, police seized books from the stall and took several students into custody.
Students said they were released after being held for approximately eight hours, while the books taken from the stall were later returned.
According to the released students, they had set up the stall to distribute books published by Pakistan-registered publishing houses. They said that SHO Dera Murad Jamali police station Ghulam Ali Kandrani arrived at the site along with police personnel, seized the books from the stall, loaded them into a police vehicle, and detained the students present.
Police did not immediately comment on the reasons for the raid or the detentions.
The Baloch Students Action Committee (BSAC) said it organizes book stalls across Balochistan at the beginning of every year under its ‘Kitab Karwaan’ initiative, but alleged that participants frequently face detentions and other difficulties from police authorities.
Commenting on the arrests in Dera Murad Jamali, the organization said the incident was not merely action against a book stall, but reflected what it described as a troubling attitude toward education, awareness, and intellectual activities in Balochistan. It added that societies develop through knowledge and awareness, and that suppressing such initiatives undermines social progress.